The second annual Festa della Corsonna subtitled “Games from the Past” was held yesterday down by the Corsonna River which flows past La Mocchia – the Osteria of Lorenzo. In fact it was the selfsame Lorenzo who started this event last year and was there again yesterday “directing the traffic”. An afternoon full of events which included tug-of-war, sack races that the kids and of course the log sawing event with the two-man saw. A closely run competition in the sawing event with once again the older hands showing the way. It’s all down to technique and experience after all. This year there was something new with the first woman participating and in fact it’s the women’s participation that is probably the central story of this year’s Festa.
For the first time there were two women’s teams in the tug-of-war. A fiercely fought contest between the two teams of seven women resulted in a decision that will probably still be talked about for the next couple of generations. One team was made up of English speaking women (mainly with a Scots accent but also two Americans ) the other, local Barga women. A mixture of inexperience on the part of first team and a debatable decision by the referee Giovanni Giovannetti, meant that although they had proved to be the stronger and have pulled their opponents to the ground had the victory snatched from their hands in the last seconds as believing that they had won they let go of the rope which was then hastily pulled back by the opposing team.
The referee awarding the match to that team. The cries of “we were robbed” filling the air for most of the afternoon.
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Last year (article here) out of the 15 pairs taking part, the winning team of Baldacci and Federico P beat them all hands down with a clear 1 second margin managing to cut the tree trunk in 21.05 seconds.
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Festa della Corsonna 2008
Click on the link below to hear the prize giving ceremony and the names of the winners of the log sawing competition