SAGRA E PALIO DELL`UOVO. 54° EDIZIONE

The ancient boiled-egg beating festival used to take place in the nearby parish of Ottignana on Easter Monday.

Although the beating of boiled eggs has ancient roots, this propitiatory ritual of Spring is still common in various cities in Italy.

The conquest of the Palio, the annual competition between the 4 town districts near the village's river bank, is preceded by a historical parade in medieval costumes in which the 4 districts are represented and accompanied by trumpets, flag bearers and pageboys bearing the 'Palio d'Argento', walking towards the field where the competition usually takes place.

The egg is always the star of the party, both raw and boiled. The races to win the Palio are four like the districts: the most spectacular is undoubtedly the battle of raw eggs, a match where the districts' members fight against each other by throwing more than 600 eggs per round.

The other interesting races are a competition to find about 200 hard-boiled eggs hidden in a large haystack, a weird and ancient version of baseball played using rows of eggs instead of balls, and a tug of war race where the two teams are located on the opposite shores of the river.