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Saint
Augustine Fair
Despite
a lot of time has passed, on 28th-30th August of
every year Senigallia is animated by sounds, colours and nationalities
during Saint Augustine’s Fair. The elegant areas of Portici Ercolani,
the Foro Annonario and the town’s typical streets are full of
stands.
Such a fair has profound roots; it
was inspired by the profitable merchant activity that has made Senigallia
known since the Middle Ages. In that period, boats and barges from many
countries of the Mediterranean came to Senigallia with their precious and
exotic goods.
The Fair thrived during the 18th
century, when it became similar to what it still is, a set of scents and
aromas, which magically fill the centre’s streets to fade at night,
among the lights of the town’s squares.
Times have changed and now many
stands offer the same standardized products, yet the atmosphere remains,
and many stands still offer hand-made products to those willing to
appreciate them.
Senigallia has also been hosting
another rich Fair, along with Saint Augustine’s fair; the Exhibition
of Organic Agriculture. Such fair offers agricultural produce, but
also small precious hand-made objects, soft fabric woven using cherry-wood
looms, the essences of odorous plants and the objects obtained from
precious timbers.
The atmosphere of the past seems
still alive, as visitors wander from one stand to the other. In the past
merchants used to reach Senigallia bringing their goods, much appreciated
by citizens and visitors from faraway towns.
La
Fiera di Senigallia
Alla
fiera, ch’è conta all’Indo e al Mauro,
non che al Tago e al Tamigi memoranda,
degna di onori e che sue laudi spanda
dovunque, chi fregiato ha il crin di lauro.
De’
più ricchi prodotti il gran tesauro,
e per terra e per mare ognun vi manda,
ne manda Svezia, Danimarca e Olanda
traendone essi in premio argento ed auro.
Corronsi
a gara il greco, il turco e il russo,
mentre è il leon vicino al gran pianeta,
e di nobili c’è flusso e riflusso.
Ognun
de suo desir giunge alla meta.
E si trasforma per bisogno e lusso
moneta in merci, e poi merci in moneta.
(taken
from Cinque Sonetti per Senigallia by
Giuseppe Garbini, 1783)
© 2001
Liberation Ventures Ltd.
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