The Cavalcata Sarda of Sassari

If you want to see all of Sardinia's variety in a single day, the place to be is Sassari on the second-to-last Sunday of May. The Cavalcata Sarda is a parade, a festival, a showcase and a beauty contest all at once: for a few hours the streets of the island's second city become the stage for the costumes, songs, horses and crafts of dozens of villages, from Gallura to the Sulcis, from Barbagia to the Campidano.

From royal rides to today's festival

The Cavalcata has old roots. The Sassari historian Enrico Costa relates that as early as 1711, in the last years of Spanish rule, the city council organised a ride in honour of King Philip V, in which the city's nobility took part. All over Europe it was customary to welcome monarchs and celebrate dynasties with parades on horseback.

The modern festival, however, recalls a precise date: 20 April 1899, when King Umberto I and Queen Margherita came to Sassari to unveil the monument to Victor Emmanuel II in Piazza d'Italia. For the occasion the city organised a great parade of costume groups and riders from all over the island, to show the monarchs the wealth of Sardinia.

Since the 1950s the Cavalcata has been a fixed event, designed to introduce the island to visitors and to promote village traditions. It has been held every year on the second-to-last Sunday of May, with the support of the City of Sassari.

The morning parade

In the morning the groups set off from the outskirts and cross the whole city to Piazza d'Italia, Sassari's grand 19th-century square. They parade on foot, on horseback or on the traccas, carts decorated with flowers, rugs, votive breads and everyday objects, often drawn by oxen. Each village brings its festive costume: embroidered bodices, pleated skirts, large shawls, headdresses, gold and silver filigree jewellery, pomegranate-shaped buttons, the men's orbace wool suits.

It is a rare chance to see side by side costumes you would normally only find at individual village feasts: the sumptuous ones of Osilo and Ittiri, the red and black of Barbagia, the vivid colours of Desulo, those of Gallura and the Campidano. Alongside the costume groups come players of launeddas, button accordion and accordion, choirs and riders in traditional harness. Some groups bring the masks of the Barbagia carnivals, such as the Mamuthones of Mamoiada.

Crowds line the route, and stands are set up at the main points. The groups often stop to sing or dance, and the parade lasts several hours.

The afternoon pariglie

In the afternoon the festival changes pace and becomes a test of courage. At the racecourse the riders perform the pariglie: two or three horses galloping side by side, with the riders standing up on their saddles, swapping places, holding hands, forming pyramids. These are acrobatics handed down from generation to generation in Sardinia, linked to great races such as the Sartiglia of Oristano and the ardie of the country sanctuaries. It is the part of the Cavalcata that draws the loudest applause and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

Evening in Piazza d'Italia

As the sun goes down the groups gather in Piazza d'Italia for the most festive and least formal part. People dance the Sardinian round dance to launeddas and button accordion, sing a tenore, the groups mingle and the public joins in. The streets of the centre, from Corso Vittorio Emanuele to Piazza Castello, stay busy until late.

Tips for attending

The Cavalcata is free, apart from the stands along the route. Get to the centre early, especially Via Roma and around Piazza d'Italia, where the parade ends. For the afternoon at the racecourse, check the programme published each year by the City, which gives times and access arrangements.

Sassari is easily reached from Alghero airport, about forty minutes away, and from Porto Torres, where the ferries arrive. The Cavalcata falls at the end of May, when the weather is already summery but the beaches are not yet crowded: combine it with a visit to the city, the Museo Nazionale Sanna, the prehistoric altar of Monte d'Accoddi and the beaches of Platamona, Argentiera or Stintino.

The festival of beauty

The people of Sassari call it the festival of beauty, and the name is no exaggeration. In a single morning a heritage of textiles, embroidery, jewellery, songs and skills passes before your eyes that elsewhere would be kept in museums. Here instead it walks down the street, worn by those who inherited it from their grandparents and will hand it on to their children.