Palio della Mannaia (The axe festival)

Second Sunday in August
It is the most important event in Pietralunga that commemorates the miracle of the “axe” that occurred on 11th September 1334.
The people in Pietralunga are actively involved in this celebration and stand for the quarter team they belong to. The teams challenge each other to win in the cart race ( called Corsa al biroccio); in turn the they have to push a heavy cart from the entrance to the village up to the main square by running as fast as possible. The cart represents the means of transport used in the past to carry people sentenced to death. The miracle tells that once a wayfarer, Giovanni di Picardia, who departed from France bound to Lucca to see the relic of the Volto Santo, was sentenced to death for a crime he had not committed. He was miraculously saved because the blade of the executioner’s axe turned to the opposite side of the cut right the moment of the execution.
The village is adorned for the festival and the lanes of the historical centre come to life with artisanal workshops, inns and taverns following the medieval way of life. Visitors can admire and also buy local handicrafts and taste traditional local dishes served with utmost care and hospitality.