We had a relatively easy time picking up our rental car - a little Fiat that *just* fit our luggage. The drive out of Florence was a bit nerve-wracking just due to the traffic on the road and risks of making a wrong turn, but once we were on the autostrade heading towards Arezzo and Assisi, it was smooth sailing. A little worry about not having cash to pay tolls with proved groundless - credit card was fine. It gave us a reason to stock up on some essentials: water, Pringles and peanut M&Ms, not necessarily in that order.
It was about a 2.5 hr drive to Assisi and we didn't get underway until 11 am, so our ability to get into the B& B, have a proper lunch and make a leisurely way to a 3 pm seating for Calendimaggio flew out the window. Worse, the GPS did not take us a good way and streets were closed due to Calendimaggio, so we had to dump the car at a further parking lot. We tried to get a taxi to take us to the B&B but the driver dropped us off at the base of a stairway a quarter mile into town and indicated we'd have to go up a steep staircase and then walk a bit to get to our B&B. Worse, due to GPS mishaps and some well-meaning helpers, we got a bit misdirected and wound up dragging the bags up another steep street, and then having to walk back down an equally steep street to get to our B&B. By this time, we were hot, stressed and tired, and entered the B&B in not-so-gracious manner. The attendant could not have been more adept at soothing our stress and getting us into the spirit of St. Francis. Soon we were in the room, and learned that our 3 pm Calendimaggio seats were actually for 4 pm, so some time to rest (but no lunch).
Calendimaggio is a traditional multi-day May Day festival that takes the form of a series of contents between the "Magnificent Lower Part of the City" ("Red team" / S"otto") and the "Noble Upper Part of the City" ("Blue team"/"Sopra"). Several contests (i.e. tug of war, archery contest) and parades were already completed the days prior, but Saturday's contests were a challenge and a singing contest, both held in the town square. Thanks to some regular checking on my part, we were able to get reserved seats in the stands for both events. The challenge turned out to be townspeople dressed in medieval garb and other costumes acting out a story. The red team's story as much as we could follow in Italian, was how the god or angel of love designated a fair maiden for his protection, how stregas (witches) and winter/death were finally able to gain access to her against the protection of the town, but how the valor of a red team knight was able to rejuvenate her and bring about spring in the city, with the requisite celebration/pageantry. It was a great spectacle, fun to see people putting heart and soul into their parts, musicians playing period instruments accompanying the singing and dancing, etc. We found lunch after the red team (first group) finished, and made it back for the second half of team blue, whose performance was equally spirited. Full and tired (and hot), we went back to the hotel for a rest and to cool off. The singing contest was at 9:30 and we were hoping that bars or restaurants would stay open late to accomodate a later dinner. The singing contest was fantastic. "Sotto" in particular was just excellent. The teams each took the stands one song at a time, singing three each. The middle one for "Sotto" was an all-male ensemble that featured a great performance by a counter-tenor who just floated the high notes in a pure, effortless way, well supported by the rest of the ensemble. Paul and I both agreed that "Sotto" deserved the win after that, and sure enough we learned later that they did win that portion of the contest, as well as the whole shebang. Two very nice sisters from the US, one of whom moved to Assisi and has lived here since 2004, were next to us and provided a lot of helpful insights into what was going on. Whistling, we learned, was the opposite of applause. Lots of whistling from each side when the other team was doing their processions on/off the stage.
Anyway, our worries about dinner proved to be right. We fortunately had a few protein bars and those pringles/M&Ms, and primarily our memories of a good night sustained us.
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