It's Cheese Rolling Time Again!

  In 2012, we were here in Umbria for Easter, and the day after, which is itself a big holiday.

  Known as "Pasquetta", or "little Easter" I'm assuming, the Monday following Easter (Pasqua), is a huge day of eating, family, festivals…and in Panicale, the "Ruzzolone". 

  Yes, it's a cheese rolling contest. I wrote about it back in 2012, here.  

  Though we were here last year for this mighty show of, ….…ummm…cheese rolling….I skipped writing about it because I'm basically a lazy gal sometimes. I couldn't let this year go by, though, without a tilt of my hat, and a lift of my glass of vino, to the young men who come out to show their stuff.

Seriously, these guys are dedicated to the cause.
And cute….

That's a large round of cheese, that gets wound up like a yo-yo,
and then thrown down the street.

  You will enjoy the very short video, a few inches down the way here, but first... let me give you the drift of it.

  Ok, from what I can tell, which is speculative at best, there are several young men, each representing his tribe (is it a town thing? a neighborhood thing? a generation to generation hand-down thing? I don't know). These strapping young lads have this cheese rolling thing down. I assume they practice for weeks, if not months…ok, maybe days..before the big contest.

  Each fellow takes his turn, rolling the cheese as far as possible, in as few tries as possible, and then back again…to win. I think.

  The whole town follows, cheering on their team and just having a good old time.

These are probably the cheese rollers from a different era, carefully keeping an eye on
the proceedings. They are the "peanut gallery", I think.

  So, I used to think they went all around the town walls, but they just went down from the piazza gate to the park and back. Still, it took several hours to complete the games.

The starting area for each contestant.

Wrapping the belt thingy around the cheese, to give it
a really good toss….

  Here's a little example……all the cars have been removed from the street, so NO ONE will get hurt.

  Now, in the meantime, just meters away in the piazza, there is a whole other party going on. The "Pro Loco", which is sort of a promoting group for each town, has a table out with wine, hard boiled eggs (very traditional!), and porchetta sandwiches, all yours to enjoy, on the town's nickel. Pretty sweet.

  There is also a big raffle for a gigantic chocolate Easter egg…like four feet tall, as well as bottles of wine, cheeses, salumi and other goodies to win. I think the Easter egg is the favorite, though, for kids as well as adults….

Everyone is waiting to see who who's ticket will be chosen for the
red foil wrapped giant chocolate Easter egg!

….And the winner is…….

Sidney!
Yeah! We like Sidney very much!! The "prize" inside the egg…
A decorative alarm clock! Good for you, Sidney!!

  After much back slapping and congratulations (Auguri! Auguri!), everyone heads back to Bar Gallo for another evening of good cheer, wine, and all around laughs. We are all sharing bits of dark chocolate Easter egg…I mean the entire town….Plus, many of us need to kill an hour or two before the concert at the local theatre, which will begin at nine.
  And it didn't rain.

  This is what I call another perfect day in Umbria. Sigh.