Il Mercato delle Gaite e la Primavera Medievale: la storia antica di Bevagna

“Perhaps we will erase the Middle Ages… but not the Middle Ages of Bevagna”. (Massimo Montanari – 2003)

The historical-cultural value of the Mercato delle Gaite is undoubted, as it has allowed our country to escape the narrow confines of its territorial reality, to open up to the fame that comes from this event that has its roots in the history of ancient traditions, as a recovery of a past that returns to be present.

Once a year Bevagna wakes up and it does so with this event whose growing success has put an end to its centuries-old torpor. When it was decided to create a wide-ranging cultural project that would contribute to the rediscovery of our past, we were inspired not by the distant Roman era, of which Bevagna still shows beautiful evidence today, but by the medieval age, as its architectural structure, its narrow and dark alleys, its choirs and the square itself with its wonderful examples of Romanesque and Gothic art, certainly constituted the ideal backdrop in which to revive a page of the city’s history. Forty years ago the idea seemed a bit flaccid and a gamble: to create a medieval market in Bevagna when all around, Umbria was celebrating viral tournaments, bellicose quintanas, furious jousts, forced Ceri races. At the time, no one would have bet a penny on a festival without horses or flag-wavers, without drummers or the clanking of armor. Paradoxically, however, the fact that there is a right amount of excitement and excitement in the competitions has triumphed, that there is nothing to see and at the same time you can see everything. The inspiration for the Market was found on the pages of the Libri Statutorum Antique Terre Mevanee, the old Statutes, which listed, organized and divided the city into four gaite or guards or gates and described its political and commercial life. For example: the podestà, once he arrived in Bevagna to exercise his mandate, had to go to the church of S. Vincenzo and offer a silk banner with an estimated value of ten pounds of money, had to swear in the town square to govern in good faith and without deceit for the entire duration of his mandate, had to bring with him two notaries and a judge and finally had to elect two notaries for civil cases and a notary for damages.

Anyone who wanted to sell wine had to have the pititto, the mezzetta, the foglietta and the measures sealed with the seal of the municipality; the bakers had to have a disk on which to place the basket with the bread, a white tablecloth and also a stick and no one must touch the bread with their hand, but with the stick; the pizzicarole or those who sold grass or fruit had to have a disk on which to place the basket with the herbs and fruit and they had to not have the distaff at their belt or spin with it, nor hold a child in their arms; the butchers had to not – in the months of May, June, July and August – sell sows, sheep, goats or castrates, under penalty of four pounds for each infraction; in the mills of the municipality there had to be a metal cappolo regulated in such a way that the raseria of the municipality held thirty cappolo and, in addition, there had to be two mezzenghi and a quartengo; hemp could only be sold from Porta Giuntula to Porta S. Vincenzo, the compensation for the weavers of hemp cloth was three cents for six knots and eight cents for fifteen knots.

 

Mercato delle Gaite

 

Forty years ago the Gaite reached an agreement and, instead of taking turns on guard, they divided the tasks: each would reconstruct two ancient crafts, according to the techniques, materials and tools of the time, the artisans would sell their products on the stalls and in the street, a Palio would reward the best Gaita, as a series of three judges would assign the points of the Palio in four competitions on different days: archery, gastronomy, crafts and market. The success comes from the incredible care that the Gaite put into the arrangements, copied from period drawings, remade tools, reconstructed instruments, processing techniques fished out from the statutes. In the warehouses and workshops of Bevagna, the silk worker twists the silk threads with a human-powered machine, the papermaker beats the rags, the wax workers make candles by pouring layer after layer of boiling beeswax onto a wick, the minter melts metals and makes coins.

The archery competition has given birth to a local group of athletes who, in addition to participating in various historical re-enactments, compete in Italian and European championships with excellent results. The competition for the best medieval dish has refined the palate of the Bevanati and given birth to many enthusiasts of medieval cuisine, making them experts. The reconstruction of ancient crafts has given birth to very skilled craftsmen. Finally, the reconstruction of medieval life has aroused a passion for the music of that period, resulting in the formation of some musical groups and also for dance.

The market, on the final Sunday of the festival, is the most significant moment of the entire event. Bevagna wakes up, renewed yet very ancient, transformed in all its alleys, animated by authentic villagers of the time. Stalls and stalls everywhere, artisan workshops reopened almost by magic; silent and empty corners and glimpses all year round become the privileged stage for scenes of everyday life. For forty years, in the last ten days of June, Bevagna has been transformed into a living museum, an archaeological and economic itinerary, qualifying itself for serious historical research work.

 

 

In the Middle Ages, four is considered a pivotal and resolving number.

FOUR the gaite

FOUR the competitions: market, trades, gastronomy, archery.

FOUR the markets

FOUR x 2 the trades

FOUR the competition dishes

FOUR the elements that medieval science had inherited from antiquity: earth, water, air, fire. Empedocles states: “know first of all the fourfold root of all things: Zeus is the luminous fire, Hera the mother of life, and then Idoneus, finally Nestis, from whose sources mortals drink”.

FOUR the qualities: hot, cold, dry, humid.

FOUR the humors: yellow bile, blood, phlegm, black bile

FOUR the temperaments: melancholic, choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic.

FOUR the moments of the day: morning, midday, evening, night.

FOUR seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

FOUR seasons of life: childhood, youth, maturity, senescence.

 

 

The growing success has then broadened the horizons, over time and in the articulation of an increasingly rich calendar. This is how the Medieval Spring was born, that is, the theoretical and cultural aspect of the festival and preview of the June re-enactment. The event will be held from 24 to 28 April. The gaite will reopen their taverns where customers can enjoy tasty medieval dishes, the good colors of the Middle Ages and recipes that are, in most cases, those of today, barely disguised by an unusual ingredient or a curious name, but easily recognizable, so as to suggest a journey into the past, which will not take them too far from home; they will reopen their ancient shops where visitors, through a laboratory activity, can become, for a day, silk workers, wax workers, paper makers and painters.

To enrich the event there will be a photographic exhibition entitled The images of a dream. The Mercato delle Gaite in photos, the presentation of books with the presence of the authors, conferences with the theme of female doctors and witches, priestesses and sorceresses, mystics and seductresses with historians and medievalists of high calibre. Finally, jesters and musicians will enliven the streets of the village.

 


Here is the Middle Ages, have a good trip.

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