One hundred and fifty at the Renaissance dinner at the Rocca di Montemurlo [notiziediprato.it]

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‘At the court of Cosimo I’ among costumed figures, fire games, jesters and dances. An opportunity to remember or to learn about the history and traditions of the area

In Montemurlo the magic of the Renaissance banquet “Alla corte di Cosimo I” is renewed, a dinner from other times with costumed figures, historical menu and entertainment, just as it happened in Tuscany at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The banquet took place on Thursday evening in Piazza Castello alla Rocca which, as per tradition, opens the celebrations of the 32nd edition of the historical procession, which will have its climax on 10 September with the parade in Oste. 150 people took part in the dinner – event, promoted by the Municipality with the Montemurlo Aps Historical Group and the collaboration of the La Taverna della Rocca restaurant, which oversaw the Renaissance menu. An evening that recalls a historical event that actually took place, the banquet conceived by Felice Settesoldi from Montemurle, supported by the mediation of the Pandolfini family, to bring the Medici closer to the less compromised republican opposition, which took place in the spring of 1537. Unfortunately, the attempt failed and the famous battle was fought, fought in the plain below the Rocca, which led to the definitive affirmation of the Medici.

“The banquet opens the celebrations for the re-enactment of the battle of Montemurlo which, in addition to being a bloody event, opens the door to the birth of modern Tuscany – says the mayor Simone Calamai – it is important to make our history and our traditions known and through the activities of the historical group we are able to do it in the best possible way”.

The banquet was opened by the procession of nobles, the costumed figures who revived the figures of the protagonists of the historical event: Cosimo I and his mother Maria Salviati, Maestro Riccio da Prato, Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo and Cardinal Bernardo Salviati, Captain Alessandro Vitelli, Angela De Rossi, Captain Pirro Colonna, Baccio Valori, Filippo Strozzi, Clarice dei Medici. The flag show by the flag-wavers of the historic group opened the animations that interspersed the dinner. The ladies then involved the diners in a choreography of Renaissance dances, while the jester Lapo Botteri performed his magic tricks between the tables, alternating them with irreverent jokes. The “Duo per caso”, however, proposed Renaissance music, the musical background of the whole dinner. Laura Baldini’s show with fire was particularly impressive and appreciated by the public: the lights of Piazza Castello went out and the poetry of dancing with fire began.