Giostra della Quintana

What it is

The contest is a test of horsemanship. Ten knights ride for the quarters of Foligno, and every quarter has its own flag. They gallop at high speed around a track shaped like a figure of eight. From the centre of the stadium a statue turns, and each knight must spear three rings that hang from it. The rings are changed as the rounds go on and become smaller, so later rounds ask for steadier hands. The oak statue was carved in 1613 and shows Mars, the god of war, holding a shield with the symbol of Foligno.

Origins and history

The name Quintana comes from the fifth road of a Roman military camp, where soldiers trained for fighting with the lance. Their exercise was to run at a dummy soldier and catch a ring hanging from one of its arms. That old training gave the tournament its name. The first Quintana documented as a knights' jousting contest held during a festival belongs to 1448. By 1613 the build-up to the tournament already included carnival festivals of the kind seen today. The Giostra as it is known now was reborn in 1946.

The two challenges

The Giostra is run twice in the year. The first challenge falls in June, on a Saturday night. The counter-challenge is held in September, on the second or the third Sunday of the month. A festival comes before each of the two contests, so the event fills more than a single day. The whole town takes part in the festivities over the Quintana weekend. On the day before the Ring Joust, a parade brings out 800 people dressed in seventeenth-century costume.

Costume and the town

The quarters of Foligno are the centre of the modern contest. Each of the ten knights rides for one quarter, and every quarter has a flag to tell it apart. On the day before the joust the town puts on seventeenth-century dress: a parade of 800 costumed figures walks through Foligno. The same period shapes the look of the contest, which the town dates to the carnival build-up of 1613. Around the two challenges, the whole town joins in, so the Giostra is as much a public festival as a sporting contest.

How Giostra della Quintana is kept

Ten knights, one for each quarter of Foligno, take part. Before the joust, the town holds a costumed parade; on the day before the Ring Joust, 800 people walk in seventeenth-century dress. On the field, the knights ride one after another around a figure-of-eight track at high speed. A rotating statue stands at the centre, with three rings on an outstretched arm. The knight must spear the rings. As the rounds go on the rings become smaller, so the contest asks for more precision each time. The June challenge and the September counter-challenge are run in the same way.

When and where

The Giostra is kept twice a year. The first challenge falls in June, on a Saturday night. The counter-challenge comes in September, on the second or third Sunday of the month. Each contest is preceded by a festival, and the parade in seventeenth-century costume takes place on the day before the Ring Joust.

It is kept in Foligno, a town in the centre of Italy. The whole town takes part, and the ten knights ride for its quarters. The contest itself is run on a figure-of-eight track in the stadium, around the oak statue of Mars. Foligno is where the tournament was documented in the fifteenth century and where it was brought back in 1946.

What Giostra della Quintana means

The rings and the lance recall the old training of soldiers, from which the name Quintana is said to come. Spearing a ring from a galloping horse takes a steady hand, and the rings grow smaller as the rounds go on, so the later passes ask the most. Each knight rides for a quarter of Foligno, so the contest is also a meeting of the town's parts. The statue at the centre holds a shield bearing the symbol of Foligno.

Questions people ask about Giostra della Quintana

See also

ChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsValentine's DayA Christian feast day and cultural celebration of love kept on February 14 in many countries.Christmas treeA decorated evergreen or artificial tree placed indoors to mark the Christmas season.April Fools' DayAn annual day of lighthearted pranks, hoaxes and teasing kept on the first of April

Good reading and sources

• Giostra della Quintana on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.