The historical parade in my city. ❤️

Hello hivers, an happy Sunday to you all!

As I wrote in my previous content, yesterday July 25th here in my city (Pistoia, Italy) was a special day, because we celebrate San Jacopo (Saint James), the patron saint of my city.
Like every year, the day started with a parade with a lot of people in medieval style dress and a mass in the cathedral where the bishop of Pistoia gives a blessing to all the participants . The day continue with some similar celebrations until the time of the main event of the day that is the Giostra dell'Orso (the joust of the bear) in the main square Piazza del Duomo! The Joust of the bear is the name of the horses tournament (similar to the most famous in Siena) between the 4 ancient districts (called rioni) of the city:
Cervo bianco (white deer)
Grifone (griffon)
Leon d'oro (golden lion) - the discrict where I live ❤️
Drago (dragon)
Just to know, the name of the tournament is because the bear is the Pistoia’s heraldic animal called Micco, and usually it is represented on a red and white squared shield.
Yesterday was really hot during the day, so me and my hubby @paolobeneforti went to watch the second (and last) parade of the day at the 7PM. The center of the city was full of people came there to see the parade and I took a lot of pics to share with you. I'll share them with you in 2 part, because I want to show you the most part of those beautiful medieval style dressed.

Just to know, all my thoughts went to that people who, in a very hot day, wore those velvet clothes. 😉

At the start of the parade there was the Major of the city (he is the one with the tricolor band on the body 😁):

After there was the "Compagnia dell'orso", the historic medieval reenactment group with musicians and flag-wavers, sword fighting, and archery of my city:

After the wonderful show by the musicians and flag-wavers of the Compagnia dell'orso it was time to parade people to represent the ancient rich families of the past and so a lot of wonderful clothes and hats too!

Look at the hair style of this young woman, isn't it wonderful? ❤️

In the following pic you can see the Palio of this year. The Palio (a cotton banner painted every year by a different artist) is the prize for the winner of the Giostra dell'Orso.

After this first part of parade, the Rioni started to walk in front of us. The first one was the Cervo Bianco. Its colors are white and green and, just to know, they win the Palio in the last 4 years.

It was a long long parade (we stay there for a couple of hours to watch everything) and so I'll shared with you the pics of the other 3 Rioni in one of my next content.

Just to know, yesterday night the winner of the Giostra dell'Orso was the Drago (after 15 years of their past win).

See ya soon and stay safe,
Silvia

***If you like my artworks, you can find them on my online shops on
Artfinder ( https://www.artfinder.com/silviabeneforti#/), on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/vumap) and on my Patreon page too (https://www.patreon.com/silviabeneforti). If you are interested about my artworks, you can by my catalogue here:

US (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
Italy (https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
Uk (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
You can find it in different countries, you have just to search "silvia beneforti portfolio" on Amazon. ^^
^^ ****