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How the Ruzzola, or Tumbling, Came to be the Official Form of Entertainment at Carnival in Pontelandolfo.
Once upon a time in the Middle Ages, the wealthy Baron of Pontelandolfo had a passion for gambling and would find any pretext for a good game as long as it was loaded with substantial stakes.
On the last Sunday of Carnival he was having a late-night card game with his farmhand Pasquale: it was a tense competition with victory often changing sides. In the end, dawn saw Pasquale the winner of two farms and pasture hills.
Taking no notice of the change of ownership, the Baron’s cows continued grazing happily on what was now Pasquale’s land. Pasquale complained to the Baron about the trespassing, “I think, since I’m feeding your cows, I should be entitled to a share of the cheese from their milk!”
“You wish!” the Baron retorted, “They are grazing on grass that was grown before you won the land, therefore it’s still my grass.”
Now the townfolk of Pontelandolfo could look forward to a good, hot blooded battle between the two factions. To add insult to injury the lord had a big wheel of cheese hung on Pasquale’s window. The farmer, furious but clever, and not wanting to stir up turmoil, challenged his opponent by saying, “What began as a game should be resolved with one: I shall wait for you tomorrow in the square!”
The following morning, surrounded by a shouting crowd, the two men started what was to be a decisive cheese-tumbling tournament. According to the legend the game never ended and it is said that their ghosts appear in the nights of Carnival, still playing!
The Origins of the Game
There are clues to possibly very ancient origins of the Ruzzola: an Etruscan fresco in Tarquinia’s Tomb of the Olympiad, shows an athlete in the act of swinging a “disc” that looks much like a cheese.
Even Galileo took an interest in the game: in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems there is a quotation from Aristotle about the rotating motion and speed of ruzzole.
The Game as it is Played Today
Since 1861 the players gather and start the course of some 700 metres beginning at the main square, to Palazzo San Rocco and back, throwing their wheels of cheese.
These can weigh from 6 to 35 kilos and are swung using a rope called a zagaglia, which wrapped around the perimeter of the cheese and the player’s wrist. The team that uses the least throws, or cùlp wins.
Although today the game is properly organized in a Federation, its peasant origins make it popular in many regions of Italy; often the cheese is replaced by a wooden disc, which is cheaper and lighter.
©Mitì Vigliero