The Golden Lance of the 142nd Giostra del Saracino

A beating heart as a symbol of morality, crossed by veins in which gold flows, the rouge of the widespread exhibition “Aurum” that the artist Fabio Viale is exhibiting in the city and a symbol of Arezzo and its economy that highlights a link between the manufacturing tradition Arezzo and the Saracen tradition: this is the “sign” that the Piedmontese sculptor wanted to impress on the hilt of the Golden Lance of the 142nd edition of the Giostra del Saracino, giving to the city, and to the district that will win it next Sunday, a amazing artwork. The trophy, made by Viale together with the master carver Francesco Conti, is dedicated to the Municipality of Arezzo on the 250th anniversary of the issue of the motuproprio on 7 December 1772, with which the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo di Habsburg-Lorraine launched the ” community reform ”of the city by establishing the first associative form of the Arezzo community as an administrative and political body.

“I thought of symbolizing this event and this important anniversary – is the comment of Fabio Viale – using a heart, a symbol of spirituality, emotionality and morality inherent in the human being, but also an engine capable of triggering with passion actions capable of generating great changes “.

As is the tradition for the September edition, the Lancia d’Oro was built thanks to the contribution of the Centro * Arezzo consortium which has been participating in the “Adopt a spear” project for over ten years and which has just recently set up at the inside its spaces, in the mall gallery, an exhibition of historical clothes by Vittorio Nino Novarese: “Also this year we have renewed the collaboration with the Giostra del Saracino which has lasted for over ten years and we are happy about it – comments Alessio Trovatellidirector of the Consorzio Centro * Arezzo – an operation we care a lot about because it creates a strong link between Centro * Arezzo and the city. This year we have also set up an exhibition of four historical costumes from Novara in the shopping center gallery that I invite you to come and visit. Speaking on behalf of all the exhibitors of Centro * Arezzo, the consortium cares very much about the link with the territory and participating in some way in this event so important for the city is a source of great pride for us ”.

The heart sculpted by Fabio Viale was masterfully set in the hilt of the Lancia by the master Conti who for decades has been making the trophies of the Giostra del Saracino: “A complex job as usual – explains Francesco Conti – since this heart is such a particular and meaningful object, it was necessary to study well how to insert it inside the hilt to make the Lancia a harmonious whole. To do this I decided to use essential lines, without colors, playing only on the wood and the gold that I placed on the shaft with sketches of contemporary art, leaving only the wood in a neutral way in the lower part so as to enhance the fulcrum of the trophy. the heart of Viale, carved in onyx, a material that reflects the colors around it. An important commitment but which, as usual, led to a very satisfying final result “.

A work that has also met the satisfaction of the neighborhoods and that will meet in particular that of those who will be able to insert the “jug” in their own rack. Maurizio Carbonirector of Porta Sant’Andrea: “I congratulate the artists because it is a very important work, I thank Centro * Arezzo for having continued the path of adopting the spear and I hope that Sant’Andrea will give the best of himself in the Piazza and that the commitment of these months be rewarded by the victory “. Andrea Fazzuolirector of Porta Crucifera: “As soon as I saw this heart in the Lancia I thought that the one who puts the most heart into it will win the Giostra ”. Roberto Felicirector of Porta del Foro: “A truly exciting, beautiful and evocative Lancia as the Giostra is a beautiful piece of the heart of this city. At Porta del Foro there is this rumor that we are not very good at winning the beautiful spears, in reality in the last fifteen years we have had difficulties even with the less beautiful ones, I hope it is finally time to reverse the course “. For last Giacomo Magivice rector of Porta Santo Spirito: “I bring greetings from Ezio Gori who would have liked to come, but couldn’t because the council, out of luck, wanted me to come back since I was present in June and we won the Giostra. The Lancia is beautiful and we will do everything to decorate it with the yellow and blue handkerchief “.

Luca Bertihistorical consultant of the Giostra del Saracino has outlined the salient points of the dedication to the Municipality of Arezzo in the 250 of the motuproprio that determined its birth: “The Municipality of Arezzo, or rather the Consul, which is the expression of the citizens’ will to organize themselves and create bodies that defend and represent their interests – explains Dr. Berti – is for the first time attested at the end of the eleventh century. The Municipality by definition does not recognize superior authorities, which at the time were those of the Empire and the Papacy, but the Municipalities still manage to affirm themselves and do so through the City-States, the Republics, becoming in fact sovereign bodies with the power of self-determination. which is a fundamental prerogative of sovereignty. In this sense there is a continuous line that binds the original Municipality to the Municipality of today represented by the mayor Ghinelli, without discontinuity, but with ruptures: the moment of transition between the two situations is represented precisely by the community reform wanted by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Habsburg -Lorena in 1772 who with a motuproprio, therefore on her own initiative, intervenes to change the regulations of the Municipality of Arezzo. The reform concerns the whole territory of the State with city-by-city, rural area by rural area, and takes place over a period of 14 years. From a structural point of view, it simplifies, rationalizes, modernizes the entire municipal structure, reunites the territory of the city with that of the curtains and determines an epochal change: the political rights that were previously linked exclusively to the family and which could only be accessed with family ties, henceforth they become the rights of the individual “.

The Lancia d’oro will be officially presented to the city tomorrow morning during the Ceremony of Career Drawing and Oath of Captains scheduled at 11.00 in Piazza della Libertà at the end of which it will be taken to the Duomo, in the Chapel of the Madonna del Conforto, and kept there until the day of the Joust.