Stories of donkeys and jockeys

• … and they used to rinse clothes in the Ombrone
• After September 8th 1943
• Between the twenties and thirties
• Corrado Capecchi, military internee
  • A medal (at last) for Corrado
  • The joke of the military internees
• Five places of Romanesque Carmignano
• Friar Bocci, at the beginning of the twentieth century
• From archaeologists to farmers
• Gino Balena
• Gino di Fico
• Historical shops in Carmignano
• In the name of Jesus and Saint Peter, may the sty go away
• Liberation day
• Matteucci, the ‘forgotten’ bishop
• Soldier in Greece
• Stories from a school notebook
• Stories of donkeys and jockeys
• Stories of mayors and town councils in Carmignano
• Stories of our home
• Stories of war and displaced persons
• The Battistina and other scary stories
• The colours of the rioni
• The Golden Roster
• The last sharecropper in Carmignano
• The siege in memory of the Princess
• The tree of liberty in Carmignano
• Ugo Contini Bonacossi
• Vittorio’s bicycles
• When the river Arno was fordable ..
• When they were digging pietra serena between Arno and Ombrone
• The colours of Carmignano, a small guide for tourists
  • Ancient churches and abbeys. Montalbano, a crossroads for pilgrims.
    • San Giusto al Pinone
    • San Jacopo in Capezzana
    • San Leonardo in Artimino
    • San Lorenzo in Montalbiolo
    • San Martino in Campo
    • San Michele amarcord
      • San Michele, the theater takes to the streets
• Itineraries for just a few days or more
  • Walking through history and nature
  • A Sunday devoted to the discovery of Artimino
  • A few words about the hamlets of Carmignano
  • The Fontina and Castagnati Lake
• Guides to download

Nowadays the San Michele means above all, a street theatre. But there is also the Palio of donkeys (a race): it is no longer four but only two laps from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza Matteotti and Via Roma, with change of donkeys at half of the way. It is because the laws for the protection of animals require so.
The first time along the circuit of two squares and a street in the centre of the village, it was held in 1967: starting from the restaurant Roberto and arriving to Anaceto’s Before that, San Michele’s donkey race of Palio ran along the road from Torcicoda, at the intersection of Via Granaio and Via Nella Borchi, rising back up to the village. That circuit was a revolution and in the week before the Palio, it is said, they practiced practically every night with donkeys along the circuit.

Even after nearly forty years, many people of the village still remember the donkey Merchx: a legend of the Yellow district and a target of thousands of accusations and controversy from the part of other districts. The record remains unchanged of Camilla Breddo and Mariella Niccolai, the only two women jockeys in the history of San Michele: the first one won it in 1998 for the Blue district, the second one, again for the Blues, in 2004. The donkey Merchx arrived in Carmignano, from Iolo, in 1969. “And thanks to that donkey,” recalls Giuliano Petracchi, “Yellows, that were in financial difficulties almost seeming to not participate in the celebration, won both the parade as well as the race, as it happened again in 1971.”The donkey won without interruption until 1973, and for his extraordinary racing qualities was quickly nicknamed after the greatest cyclist who these days was winning all of the races.

“Obviously,” continues Giuliano, “the dominance of the Yellows unleashed an array of suspicions, accusations and protests in other districts.” Also the mayor Lenzi and then the president of the organizational committee found themselves in the vortex of controversies. But it wasn’t that new to the San Michele: in 1964 the Green district was accused of using a needle to make their donkey run faster. In 1968 again Green district was accused of doping. And to dispel all the doubts, it was decided to submit all the donkeys to mandatory veterinary examinations.
Then began auctions for buying the best donkeys and the best jockeys. Then it was decided to return to a formula that had already been tried, with little success though, in 1974: the draw of donkeys, night after night, between the four districts.

As it still happens nowadays.