Palio del Casale

Carlo Siciliano

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The thrilling race of donkeys taking place for years in Camposano in the province of Naples.

The story I want to tell begins here, in Camposano, the second Sunday of May of 1768, when the entire population of the house gathered in the main square to celebrate the longed-for independence, just conquered the previous year after a long lasting dispute decades, from the nearby town of Nola. They were organized festivities from morning to night for three days, with bonfires, banquets, music and games of all sorts. Such was the fervor for the conquest of autonomy and freedom that even the inhabitants of nearby houses 15 revelers flocked to the doors of Camposano. Many came on the back of donkeys, always docile fellow peasants toiling in the fields. Some young people among those present saw a young girl, remaining electrocuted: his name was Josephine, and it was the prettiest of the daughters of the house Camposano. He was born suffered a dispute between the claimants in order to establish the order to be able to declare the girl. The contest among young people was so turned on that soon the crowd gathered around the suitors, intent on establishing the rules of any game by lot, the winner of which was to have precedence over others to introduce themselves to the beautiful Josephine. It is said that, set back, the sharecropper's house watched the dispute, which was a lot of fun.
Realizing the impossibility on the part of young people raggiundere an agreement, he decided to approach the knot of people, taking the word: as a simple count would not have made any honor to the winner nor a tribute to the girl, he proposed a game of wits, skill and why not, luck, or a race with donkeys. Excited, the suitors agreed, but the tenant pointed out that the only route for the unique race was the link road between the house and Comiziano to Camposano, which was within the property of the director Giulio Mastrilli: it was necessary, therefore, to ask the nobleman's permission to compete on its possessions. For this reason, the tenant and the pretenders made their way to the aristocratic country house in via Capuua. Once delivered, the sharecropper knocked on the door, and sat before the noble front facing the main terrace of the house, he illustrated the reasons for the visit. The noble, always a lover of women, was highly amused and appointed the sharecropper mossiere the race, gave a favorable opinion.

So it was that the young people, with the help of mossiere, gave birth to the race immediately ran to their donkeys tied to a nearby pole and established a few simple rules, they went on running, riding sleeping their animals, egged from the crowd intrigued and amused. That year the harvest was particularly abundant, so it was decided the following year to celebrate the independence of the farmhouse and the fruitfulness of the earth by organizing a race with donkeys preceded by a procession of youth, led each year by a different young girl in marriageable age, bearing in his hands a bag with fresh fruits as a symbol of abundance and fertility hope. Through oral testimony has come down to us the story of this unusual story. The cultural association of Isis Camposano, with the purpose of bringing to life the traditions and culture of our ancestors, this year once again the exciting win of the house.

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