The Garibaldi Festival begins with sails and red shirts parading.

The 2025 edition of the Festa di Garibaldi begins today in Cesenatico, enlivening the historic center for two days. The highlight is tonight, starting at 8:30 pm, with the parade of the city's ten districts along the canal harbor, followed by the Palio della Cuccagna, which will pit the teams of Villalta, Borella, Cannucceto, Madonnina, Ponente, Valona, E' Mont - Levante, Boschetto - Villamarina, Sala, and Bagnarola against each other. Each team will consist of five cuccagnotti, so each lap will involve 50 attempts at climbing the 14-meter, grease-smeared pole.

The winner will receive a cash prize and food, cured meats, and cheeses hung from the Cuccagna. Garibaldi's Palio della Cuccagna challenge, always a deeply felt event among the neighborhoods and among the multiple-time champions themselves, who are considered true climbing aces, will feature a parade of flag-throwers, musicians, and men-at-arms from Terra del Sole. The Palio will be preceded in the morning by the traditional gathering of ancient Romagna boats with lugsails, organized by the Maritime Museum for the festival. The boats will arrive in Cesenatico from all the ports of Romagna and will be visible at their moorings in the innermost section of the canal harbor, reserved for traditional boats.

It's a remarkable sight: the Cesenatico gathering is the event that brings together the largest number of traditional Romagna boats, thanks also to the fact that Porto Leonardesco regularly hosts over half of the total.

Cesenatico, a city with deep maritime roots, has earned a prominent role in Europe and the entire Mediterranean basin for its activities and best practices, which focus on revitalizing and enhancing the local identity, also as a key to innovative and sustainable tourism.

Tomorrow, the celebration will commemorate Giuseppe Garibaldi's embarkation on August 2, 1849, when the hero, with his dying wife Anita and about forty loyal Red Shirts, commandeered thirteen fishing boats to set sail in a failed attempt to reach Venice. It will be possible to follow the event aboard the motorboats.

James Mascellani