I had a really nice week-end! :)
On Saturday we all went to my friend's house in the country and we stayed there all day under the sun. Finally summer is arrived, and if we were complaining last week because of the cold and the rain, we are now complaining for the high temperatures. It's really really hot, but I prefer this way 8) I couldn't stand a cold June.
Saturday evening there was Saracino in my city, Arezzo. I'm pretty sure that you don't know what it is...well, I will try to explain, even if I don't know if my english skills would be good enough :? Saracino (dialect for Saracen) is a sort of medieval game (is called giostra in italian, joust), and is basically simple. There is a cavalryman who has a long lance, and while he is riding his horse, he has to hit with the lance a target. He then gets points, from 1 to 5, based on where he hit the target. Here's some pictures of the target (the tin man called buratto, that symbolizes the enemy of the Christian Occident in Middle Ages: the Saracen) and the points on the target.



There are four teams (quarters), and each one refers to one of the four city gates (still existing) that allowed in the medieval time to enter the city. There are, in order: Porta del Foro (or San Lorentino), yellow and crimson red (my team :) )

Porta Santo Spirito, yellow and blue

Porta Crucifera (or Colcitrone), red and green: this is the most hated quarter in the town, because its supporters are often violent and fanatic

Porta Sant'Andrea, white and green

Following this order, every quarter takes two rides: the one that gets more points wins. If there are teams with the same score, they keep playing until there is one that gets more points. There are also other rules of course, but I will not explain them here, because what I said is basically the whole game. On Saturday Porta Crucifera won because it did 4 and 5 points, damn! :evil:
The game itself is not so exciting to watch, I must be honest, but for the people of the place Saracino is a great event: there are parades and celebrations, parties all over the town and music and dancing for a whole week. Families members could belong to different quartiers and so they kind of fight each other :) During the game there are flags, chorus and hymns. It was a really great night, even if San Lorentino didn't win :(











Yesterday I went to my little nephew's birthday. He turned one!!! :D Happy birthday Leonardo :D He's not actually my nephew, he's my cousin's son, but I'm officially his aunt :)
And last night, everybody at Elena's house to watch the football match: Italy - Spain! We were eight angry guys screeming against the tv because the two idiots of players did wrong the penalties, and the incompetent coach didn't allow to important players to play! :evil: So Italy is out of Euro2008 :cry: We could have done much better, but we did so many mistakes :(