On the evening of Sunday August 8th at 9pm, over three thousand people attended the second edition of ‘Cavalli sul Lago’ a spectacluar equestrian display held on the lakeside in Marta. The event founded and organised for the first time last year by Eraldo Brachetti was at that time considered such a success that the mayor of Marta Lucia Catanese was hopeful it would become an annual event. This year in collaboration with Marta organisations and Viterbo Chamber of Commerce it was a great success which Lucia Catanese acknowledged in her speech at the end of the show.
It was a brilliant evenings entertainment, smoothly organised with thanks to Eraldo Brachetti, Nevio Prugnoli and others, we the audience were treated to nearly two and half hours of being shown what horses can achieve with their friend ‘man’ both while at work and play. The evenings events were announced to us by Maria Balleri who is connected with horse shows both in Viterbo and Verona.
The programme included both local horsemen and equestrian groups as well as others from other Italian provinces. As well as some amazing acrobatics we were shown demonstrations by the Maremma cowboys, local Martani traditions such as breaking in a colt and even other interesting displays. It is difficult to describe these events in words, photos and videos do that much better than I ever can. I took lots of photos very few of which were successful enough for me to share here. The rest if you are interested can be viewed in my My Album entitled Cavalli sul Lago on Flickr. I am also including two excellent videos taken by a contact of mine webtony1
Mounted Carabineri
One participant takes a bow.
Tricks with fire.
These photo horses were amazing just taking verbal commands.
Cavalli sul Lago Prima parte 2010
Cavalli sul lago Seconda parte 2010
I should also mention that this event was free with no tickets required, really keen members of the audience were seated many hours beforehand along with their picnics.
A great event which I am hoping will definitely be a regular part of Marta summers.
The Italians really seem to know how to enjoy summer. I've enjoyed reading about all these wonderful summer festivals. As I said to you in an email a while ago, I think the lyrics to a popular American song should be changed from "party like a rock star" to "party like an Italian". The Italians seem to have a real zest for life!
ReplyDeleteVery impressive - and interesting that it was just free to turn up!
ReplyDeleteAnd you got all this for free! Hats off to the horses and riders for such a fantastic show.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pleasurable night to sit by the lake and be entertained.
Thank you for sharing.
As always, beautiful.
ReplyDeletePam - The Italian zest for life is one of the things that makes us so happy to be living here.
ReplyDeleteRachel - I know free! Thanks again for your technical advice.
Mya- It is amazing to us that this sort of event is free.
Velva- Thankyou, it was.
Hi Linda .. Well another great evening out for you in Marta ...and how very impressive that is was free for all .. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me about the first flower, I had no idea , as I just saw it in one of the gardens in the park we looked around and like the look of it . ..posts yet to come..
Anne - Well I guess it was the same plant! It is amazing that it was a free event isn't it.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly magnificent! I've always wanted to see one of these shows live. And that it was free is even more amazing – thank you for sharing yet another of the fabulous events in your area. Wishing you a great weekend. – g
ReplyDeleteGeorgianna - It was an amazing atmosphere, we have had so many great events this summer, I fear winter might be something of an anti climax. Have a good weekend yourself.
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