31st Feltre Horse Race

From 06 August 2010 to 08 August 2010

The Traditional Feltre Horse Race usually takes place during the first weekend in August to celebrate the inclusion of the city into the Republic of Venice. Now in its 31st edition, this event has a huge following amongst the citys residents and is without doubt, considered to be, one of the most fascinating historical re-enactments in Veneto. This event commemorates the treaty signed on 25th June 1404 between the Feltre nobleman Vettore Muffoni and the Venice ambassador Bartolomeo Nani that gave rise to an alliance between the two cities for the purpose of mutual help and support. Proof of this union was the fact that Venice intervened twice, as an act of faithfulness to the signed agreement, to rebuild the city of Feltre after it had been almost completely destroyed twice in 1509 and 1510 by Maximilian I of Habsburg during the war fought by the League of Cambrai against Venice.

During the three day event the city takes on a completely different image whereby it returns to the Medieval time and strong emotions are enjoyed by those who participate in the celebrations. Streets are filled with antique markets, costumed performers, dames and knights, magistrates, pageboys and deacons, acrobats and jesters, fire eaters and puppeteers so that the perfect ambience is created for the ensuing competitions amongst the citys four quarters, namely, Portoria, Santo Stefano, Castello and Duomo. They challenge each other on the four disciplines of archery, tug-of-war, relay race and horse racing.

In the 2010 edition the horse race is proceeded by a series of introductory events: Saturday July 31st will see the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the artist who will design the drape for the winning team, on Tuesday August 3rd a concert will be held at Casa Muffoni and on Wednesday 4th August the Evening of the Quarters will be celebrated. All this represents the eve of the faire, as the official start of the horse competition is marked by the traditional dinner of the citys quarters (on Friday August 6th).

On Saturday 7th, after the ceremony of the handover of the keys in Piazza Maggiore, the first two races will take place, followed on Sunday by the historic parade and the final challenge, centred on the horse race in Pr del Moro at 17:30. Not to be missed is also the ceremony taking place at mid morning, after the religious celebrations, when riders and their horses receive a blessing in the churchyard of the cathedral.