Calcio Storico Fiorentino
Friday August 22, 2008
The Calcio Storico in Florence is a ball game, now played in costume, which dates back to the fifteenth century. I heard about it through this site which has a write up of the events and photographs – I found it an interesting read. If you know of any local customs and sports like this which still occur please let me know.
Comments
I was in Florence some years ago and happened to catch the Calcio Storico game on TV. They play rough! One of the players died during a melee - His team thought they should suspend play in respect - The other team, disagreed and when the dead player’s team walked off they forfeited the game. Half the crowd cheered.
That’s wicked-guess we haven’t gone that much further loosing our thirst for blood sports after all!