ITALIAN DIARY - OCTOBER 2026

FIERA ALLA PIEVE, SINALUNGA

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Thursday 1st October

An early start saw us all gathered at Gatwick Airport ready for our 10am flight to Florence

ready to start our Italian odyssey representing Dorking at the annual Fiera alla Pieve festival

in Dorking’s twin town of Sinalunga.

After a smooth flight we arrived in Florence to find that, after a ‘series of unfortunate events’

Gill and Paul, who were travelling separately from the main group, would not be joining us.

While contacting the taxi company to see if they could collect us earlier – Niall discovered

that they had cancelled one of the minibuses without telling him!

An extremely frustrating couple of hours of intense phone and text activity resulted in

booking.com sending us another minibus at their expense. In the end, we arrived in

Sinalunga about an hour earlier than we had expected so all was well, although Niall needed

a stiff drink when we arrived.

After settling into our respective apartments, we met at the Cirifo restaurant where we were

treated to dinner by the Sinalunga town twinning organisation; a nice end to a rather tiring

day and very nice to meet up with our lovely translator, Azurra, once again.

Sinalunga Old Town Picture x1

Friday 2nd October

A free day to recover from our journey. Several of us met up for a fairly leisurely breakfast

at Bar L`Angalo in the Piazza Garibaldi and spent the day reacquainting/exploring the Old

Town and girding our loins for the rest of the festival.

Niall didn’t get an entirely free day as he helped to unwrap a bench. This had been made by

the ‘Dorking Men’s Shed’ and given as a gift to Sinalunga to be installed in Parco Dorking as

a permanent symbol of the friendship between our two towns. A lovely gesture which nearly

didn’t happen due to problems with the transport. Again, it was Niall’s powers of persuasion

that saved the day. By making the event sound more important than a G7 summit and its

non-arrival likely to cause an international incident, it was finally delivered at the 11th hour –

to everyone’s (particularly Niall’s) great relief.

In the evening a group of us met at the Alle Volte Ristorante next to the park for dinner. A

good selection and very nice food indeed.

Saturday 3rd October

Opening day of the Fiera. Roosters were to play a key role in the ceremonies which were to

include the unveiling of the bench and ribbon cutting ceremony, attended by local and

regional authorities and the delegations from the twin towns of Ay-Champagne in France and

Dorking; a procession, led by Roosters; Holy Mass; a concert by the Italian Air Force Band

and, finally, a dinner for all participants with live music and a performance by Rampant

Roosters.

However, things didn’t quite go to plan …….

It started well, at 11am we were taken to lunch at Forcillo Restaurant where we enjoyed

some local dishes, including the regional pasta, a lovely charcutier selection and a local

fermented wine, something similar to sherry, and some biscuits which are very hard and

designed to be dipped in the wine before eating.

Before each course was served the Chef/Owner rang a bell to call us to order and explained

each course, how it was made and, in the case of the alcohol and biscuits, how to dunk & eat

them. It made for a very fun meal.

At around 3am the programme began with a local group of Medieval Flag bearers processing

to the main marquee and giving a spectacular demonstration of flag waving and throwing.

Flags & Flowers Pictures x2

As their demonstration drew to a close 2 young girls from the troupe came into the crowd

and presented myself and another lady with beautiful flower posies. I had assumed they

were trying to give the flowers to someone behind me and kept backing away, until I realised

the young lass was trying to give them to me – whoops – so was surprised, but delighted to

accept them.

After their performance we awaited the arrival of the Regional Mayor so that the bench

could be unveiled & procession commence. And we waited, and waited.

Azurra asked if Roosters would do an interim performance to entertain the crowd, which we,

of course, were very happy to do. Roosters are always able to go with the flow and perform

at the drop of a hat – or a late Mayor.

We entertained the crowd with Postman’s Knock, Jubilee Juggle and Catalpa

In the end the mayor was 2 hours late. Just before he arrived the bench was covered and

surrounded by Roosters to shield it from view when he came in. Once he entered the

marquee we peeled away so it was revealed and able to be officially ‘opened’ by the mayor.

As the procession did not happen due to the late arrival, they were determined to get some

ceremony out of the whole affair and it did work reasonably well.

The Bench!! Picture x1

The Mass had gone ahead without us, the delegations or dignitaries and, after the ribbon

cutting and a few words from various people, we went to look around until the evening event

began.

The evening dinner did not quite go as planned either. The various speeches and award

ceremony went on longer than expected, during which Niall was quite surprised to be called

onto the stage at the request of the Regional Mayor who asked for the ‘performer in the

peasant costume’ to join them. We think he said ‘folk ‘costume but it was translated as

peasant which was hilarious and very much describes Roosters. Fortunately, he wasn’t

expected to say anything, just to be there looking decorative and represent us peasants.

Is that a peasant on the stage? Picture x1

It took quite a while for everyone to be served, with a bit of a hitch as the chef had forgotten

to include requested vegetarian meals, although they did manage to rustle up something so

no-one starved.

Because of everything running late we did not perform at this event after all but it was a fun

evening and, towards the end, the band played Abba’s Mama Mia and Irene led a small group

of Roosters in an impromptu disco dance, much to the amusement and enjoyment of the Air

Force lads who were on the tables next to us, several of whom had already come over to

have their photo taken with us.

Although the day was not at all as planned and there was quite a bit of waiting around,

Roosters rose to the occasion and cemented our reputation for being accommodating, laid

back, friendly and up for anything.

Sunday 4th October

Met at 10am for the opening of the Agricultural part of the Fiera by a member of the EU

Parliament. We did a few dances before he arrived and then, met up with the Bucchero

Group. A local group who perform historic Italian folk plays, songs and dances – much the

same as Roosters.

Pictures x3

They were great fun and we were able to include them in a Bluebells/Sinalunga Underpass,

teach them Tinners Rabbit and join in one of their dances.

Irene, who speaks fluent Italian, was able to translate Niall’s instructions, making the whole

process much easier than it would otherwise have been. Although we did have a small

interruption – just as we were all formed up and ready to start, 2 policewomen came through

the crowd telling everyone to make way – for 4 of the most enormous bulls I’ve ever seen

that were being led through the fair by their owners. I have never seen Roosters move so fast

to get out of the way!

A load of bull & little goats Pictures x2

They were followed by a small herd of Tibetan goats being controlled by a shepherd and a

wonderful collie. To my knowledge, it’s the first time that livestock have stopped a Rooster

dance. We’ve had cyclists, spectators, children, dogs and cars halt our performances in the

past but never massive bulls or small goats.

Once again, the Town Twinning Association provided us with lunch and dinner in the

restaurant marquee at the fair.

Monday 5th October

Early start today when we were joined by local primary school children in Parco Dorking

(where the bench had already been installed). We danced Bluebells with a Sinalunga

Underpass’. The children were very keen and loved racing through the ‘underpass’ on

command.

We had intended to teach them Tinners Rabbit without sticks but, after we demonstrated it,

the teacher’s bottled out and decided that the children wouldn’t manage it, so we danced Tide

for them instead.

There is a bench under there somewhere! pictures x1

Unfortunately, at this event, Irene twisted her foot in a hole hidden by the grass and, after

some first aid on the spot, managed to hobble to the local pharmacy who gave her some gel

and bandaged her up. Sadly, she wasn’t able to dance anymore during the holiday but still

gamely came out with us every time we were performing to translate as necessary and to

continue to enjoy the event as much as possible. - well done Irene you are a wonderful

example of Roosters indomitable spirit when faced with adversity ‘keep hobbling and carry

on!’

We danced again down at the Fiera during the afternoon but most of us elected to return up

the hill to the old town for dinner.

Unfortunately, the only restaurant that was still open was full and no-one could face walking

back down the very long, steep hill to the Fiera. Some of us had provisions back at their

apartments and the rest of us, Jane, Gally, Judith, Niall and me, found a little deli that was

just about to close but stayed open to serve us. We bought a few bits and pieces and pooled

resources that we already had and put together quite a feast in Jane and Gally’s apartment, so

ending the day very convivially with plenty of food and wine and good company.

Food with Friends Picture x1

Tuesday 6th October

This was the busiest day of the Fiera. We were due to perform at 9.30am but, as there was

no-one around, we just went our separate ways and enjoyed looking round some of the 550

market stalls that had appeared overnight, lining every road out of the central part of the

town. Some of us attended Holy Mass while others did a bit of shopping and lunched at the

food stalls.

At 3.30pm we met up again for our final performance at the Agricultural area where we

danced for a very large audience. As we had missed our morning performance we went back

to the main marquee and danced there until, once again, we, were upstaged by the Bulls,

Collie and Goats, and, just as we were about to start again, by some very realistic Dinosaurs.

who came wandering and roaring through the crowd! At that point we just gave up as we

had had a very tiring few days and decided we just wanted to go back to our apartments and

have a rest.

Are we in Jurassic Park? Picture x1

Once again, our attempt to have dinner back in the Old Town was thwarted as, this time,

everything, including the local supermarket at the bottom of the hill, was closed. At that

point we went feral and separated to scavenge for food. (In all honesty there were plenty of

food stalls but some of us had had enough of burgers and pasta). Some of us partook from

the stalls but we and a couple of others found a Seikh ‘corner shop’ and bought some more

supplies, vegetables and fruit and had another ‘bring what you have’ feast with Jane, Gally,

Rob and Julia.

Wednesday 7th October

We had a free day to enjoy the local area after our very busy weekend of dance so went our

separate ways. Some joined Azurra for a tour of the Old Town while others rested, packed or

took their cameras for an outing, meeting up with others from the group from time to time

during the day before gathering at Alle Volte once again for our last meal before going home

on Thursday.

We invited Azurra to be our guest on this occasion as a thank you for ferrying us backwards

and forwards up and down the hill, translating for us when necessary, making her office

available for storing our sticks and instruments so we didn’t have to carry them around and,

generally, making our stay as easy and enjoyable as possible. We also presented her with a

small token of our appreciation in the form of an Amazon Voucher to use as she chose.

Thursday 8th October

Our journey home went like clockwork, much to Niall’s relief.

Afternoon Tea at Florence Airport picture

We feel we left Italy, and Sinalunga, with a lasting impression of a colourful, energetic,

friendly and accommodating group of slightly mad English people. We have renewed old

acquaintances, made many new friends and represented Dorking and Rampant Roosters

superbly.

Well done to everyone involved and I look forward to our trip to Germany next

year and a return to Italy in 2028