Montopoli in Val d’Arno | Bow and Arrow Challenge

For 49 years, Montopoli in Valdarno has celebrated on the second Saturday and Sunday of September the medieval re-enactment of the Archery Challenge, in which the two quarters of Montopoli (the ‘perinsù’ and the ‘peringiù’, i.e. Santo Stefano and San Giovanni) challenge each other to the sound of bows and arrows.

For two days, we leave our times behind to immerse ourselves in the Middle Ages, in a setting characterised by attention to detail and the occultation of the signs of modern times; amidst characteristic costumes, challenges between musicians, acrobats, craftsmen, merchants and warriors.

The Museo Civico e Sistema Museale Montopolese will be open with free activities for families with children aged 6 to 11.

Montopoli in Val d’Arno, an ancient and powerful village, long disputed for supremacy between Lucca, Pisa and Florence, is today a delightful centre with a medieval imprint, with the urban fabric winding along a central street. To underline its prestige, Boccaccio himself described it as a ‘distinguished castle’. In 1412, Podestà Jacopo degli Albizzi, scion of a powerful Florentine family, established that Montopoli should be divided into two peoples: Santo Stefano and San Giovanni. The decision was sanctioned by an Archery Challenge between the best archers of the two factions.