It' All About The Cheese…Ruzzolone 2016

  This year the annual Ruzzolone, a cheese rolling competition/extravaganza, took place yesterday, Monday 28 March, here in Panicale.

  The day started out pretty, then took a turn towards cold, windy, and just a little wet. Thankfully by 3pm, it calmed down to just being sort of chilly. These are tough folks, so there was a decent turnout, despite the weather….

  

  From what I could discern, there were two teams. One skewed older, one younger….they took turns flinging the cheese as far as it would roll, around part of the outer walls of town. Whoever made the two...or was it three?...times around, won. 

  The cheese is rolled, then they mark where it lands, so the next team can take it's turn, and then the first team goes from the first spot, etc, etc, etc. Wine is passed around, there is lots of loud trash talk, and all is in good fun.

  It's tradition, and it's a blast to watch.

A younger team member prepares to roll the sixteen pound wheel of cheese.

  I was almost too close…I heard the whip of the rolling strap thingy, and felt lucky it didn't take out my eye…!

  I have written about this event a couple of times, and I do enjoy seeing the now familiar faces of the fellows on the teams.
  I assume these guys have known each other for years, if not their entire lives. The joking and teasing is all part of the scene...

The players all wear their cheese rolling 'straps' proudly throughout the day.

  Slowly working their way around the main walls of town.

  PS..That wisteria on the right will be stunning in about another week...

  It's a tough job, but this gentleman, below, seems to be enjoying his roll as the red team leader, and pretty much the guy that keeps things moving along. Between glasses of white wine, of course...

  This throw, below, was a classic. The cheese went along it's merry way, right into a culvert type hole on the side of the road...

 Of course, the next throw came from the next guy, below, who had to climb into the culvert and heave the cheese up and out….for a pretty sad roll, indeed….
  Lots of hilarity ensued, of course!

I think he kind of enjoyed being down there.

  This goes on for hours. We watch the first go around, and then kind of fade out and head back to the piazza. But I sure do enjoy taking photos along the way.

The cheese rolling strap.
No, I don't know how it works.

Every year the cheese takes a wrong turn
and bounces down this hill, into an olive grove.
This year, it happened no less than three times. Here, folks are just
waiting for someone to retrieve and toss it back up.

  Everyone seems to have a good time, and I always enjoy seeing all the locals out and about, cheering, yelling and generally making lots of noise. 

  Our pals Roberto & Giulia, rent the Little Pink House every year, and have begun a tradition of their own, serving wine to all who pass by.
  You can see everyone on the terrace in the background, enjoying the show, below….

  Once the cheese and it's various tossers found their way back up the hill, we found our way to Bar Gallo to enjoy the sounds from the ongoing festivities at an outdoor table.

  A very good day, indeed!

This is one very tired cheese.
R.I.P.
You did your job well.

Who Tossed The Cheese? Ruzzolone 2015…Panicale

  The day after Easter is a holiday here in Italy. It's called "Pasquetta", the "Little Easter", I think…

  All over Italy, in all the various towns and regions, there are celebrations of some sort.  

  Maybe the festa is all about food, or antiques, or cheese rolling…it's a pretty big deal. 

  I guess that the main thing is that families come back to their home towns for the weekend of Easter, and why not extend the getaway through Monday…so let's have some sort of festival. It makes total sense to me.

  In Panicale, the week leading up to Easter Sunday is quite interesting…all these new people come into town and all of a sudden Bar Gallo is full, as well as all the restaurants and apartments. 

  We watch all week as the apartments that have been empty are suddenly being aired out and cleaned..and then all the parking spaces are full.

  There are the Religious events…A somber procession late Friday night, followed by Easter Sunday and the big Mass…Bells are ringing from all the villages and their church towers. It brings me right back to my early days…

  But I must say, the one thing missing from those early days was a good old cheese rolling tournament.

I've written about it before in this blog, and I will again, no doubt..

  I thought that this year I would just let a few pictures and videos tell the story…They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case…I'm letting the photos and videos do the talking….so to speak….

  

The Dudes.
These guys are really serious about this cheese rolling thing...

The Easter Bunny.
 He has the megaphone.

The Artist.
He's just along for the wine.

The Canadians.
They are making major points by pouring the wine.
Always good to make friends with The Dudes!

The videos….

Need I say more?

Welcome to the Panicale Ruzzolone, 2015!!

No Cheese was injured during the filming of

The Ruzzolone….

Well, many just a little bit.

Plus, it was eaten and enjoyed by all in attendance,

after the fact.

Grazie, Panicale!

It was Big Fun!!

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.