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For those of you who may not have been keeping up with events in Rome over the past few days, it’s important to note that yesterday, 21 April, was the 2761st birthday of the Eternal City.   Celebrations began on Saturday 19 April with a re-enactment of the ancient Parilia Festival in the Forum Boarium, and then continued on Sunday 20 April with a parade in which a thousand people dressed as centurions, gladiators, Vestal Virgins, senators, prisoners of wars, and goddesses strolled around the Colosseum.  (See our coverage here and here).

The events just described were staged by the Gruppo Storico Romano, but other celebratory events organized by the Comune di Roma and Legambiente were also on offer on the Via dei Fori Imperiali: Stalls showcasing food products particular to various small towns and villages across Italy were set up along the roadside while folk bands and demonstrations of traditional sporting events were given.

Among the strangest and most interesting of events was a demonstration of the Ruzzolone - a sporting event practiced only in the Umbrian village of Panicale - in which huge roundels of Pecorino cheese are rolled around town on Pasquetta, the day after Easter (Please note that in the demonstration of this event on Via dei Fori Imperiali, no effort was made to roll the cheese all the way around Rome, nor even to coax it into following the contours of the pomerium, the city boundary established by Romulus.  Darn!)

The event - as practiced in Panicale in Umbria - is described in fascinating detail here:

From the NY Times:  Mr. [Stew] Vreeland tells of the Ruzzolone in Panicale — the rolling of the cheese. A sporting event that combines elements of bocce and yo-yo, it is, Mr. Vreeland says, “as crazy as it sounds.” The giocatori, or players, send a nine-pound round of Pecorino cheese rolling on a course around the perimeter of the ancient, walled village. It is launched with a leather strap, wrapped around the cheese and pulled by a stick of wood. Spotters run alongside the cheese to mark where it falls. The winner — the player who completes the race course in the fewest strokes — gets the cheese.

Often the cheeses go careening into nearby olive groves or, as Mr. Vreeland wrote on his Web site, www.seeyouinitaly.com, “get wedged under the one Fiat Uno that didn’t get the No Parking message.” When the race is completed, the crowd is entertained by a bandaccia (literally “bad band”), with people playing pots, pans, cowbells, horns and a few actual instruments.

Kind of crazy, eh?  But that’s not all that was on display.  Crowds were also treated to a mighty display of tiro alla fune or tug of war - a contest that apparently has long been a favorite in Italian towns and villages.

The competition was fierce - it was the azzuri against the rossi or the blues against the reds.  Both teams pulled to a rhythmic chant, each trying to gain ground with every grunt as the crowd yelled and cheered.

Ultimately, the brute strength that was the blue team managed to exert their power over the reds, pulling their opponents over the magic line and declaring victory.  Are these gusy wearing azzuro the Italian National Tug of War Team?  We don’t know but it seems their jerseys suggest that might be the case.