The smile and raised arm of Tittia, born Giovanni Atzeni di Nurri, after yet another triumph at the Palio di Siena suggest honours, fame, money. All true. But how much effort to get to those triumphs, how many sacrifices, how many tears and how much sweat. The story of the Sardinian jockeys in Siena is above all this because for one who makes his debut in Piazza del Campo, there are ten who remain behind the scenes, train the horses and struggle daily in the stables of Tuscany but also of Lazio and Sardinia.
The job
Andrea Deidda, journalist and director, from Cagliari, 36 years old, documented it in a precious film that reconstructs the behind the scenes of the most famous Palio in the world. "Cara a su 'entu", "With the wind in your face", out these days, coinciding with the Palio dedicated to the Madonna of Provenzano that will be run on Sunday, describes with romanticism and realism the life of someone who at 17 he left to chase a dream. There are those who succeeded, such as Giovanni Atzeni "Tittia", Stefano Piras "Scangeo" from Elini, or Antonio Mula "Shardana" from Oliena, who made his debut in the square last year with the district of Valdimontone, and who still moves in the stables and in the dusty circuits of the province like Michel Putzu from Teti, Giovanni Puddu from Fonni, Andrea Sanna from Oliena or Paolo Arru from Sassari, who decided to return to the island during the pandemic period. And then there are the senators, Sebastiano Deledda "Legno" from Lula and Salvatore Ladu "Cianchino" from Bono. Their nicknames tell their relationship with the districts and with that strange world that moves through the narrow streets of Siena.
History
«The documentary was born with a gaze directed above all at young jockeys. The idea - says Andrea Deidda - came to me after seeing the book "Fortza Paris" by Marco Cheli and meeting Eleonora Mainò, a Sienese journalist who helped me enter the Palio scene. I wanted to tell about this extraordinary race without showing it». The images, in fact, show the stables, the gloomy mornings of the Crete Senesi on the saddle of fantastic Anglo-Arab-Sardinians who are looked after with passion and love every day. The goal is to get to Piazza del Campo, but first you have to pass by the riding tracks of Fonni, Oliena and then, once you have crossed the sea, Legnano, Fucecchio, Mocciano. The stories of Antonio Mula or Sebastiano Deledda, in Sardinian, outline the direction that starts from where they were born to get to the place where they were welcomed. "Many of them left at the age of 15, 16 and with great humility they try to find their way," says the director who will now present the film in various competitions.
Beautiful images of both Sardinia and Tuscany frame stories of integration, the search for affirmation and the will to hold on. Sometimes they are entire families who move to the large estates on the Crete Senesi because this bond between Sardinian horses and jockeys, all aimed at the Palio di Siena, has become almost indissoluble since the 1950s. As "Cianchino" recounts in the documentary, the jockey who wins gives immense joy to a people and that emotion is worth the sadness of having to cross the sea.
The documentary
“Cara a su 'entu”, produced by Andrea Deidda with Terra De Punt and the Arvéschida Cultural Association, focuses the lens on glory and effort and on those long-awaited three minutes from when the canape gives way to the trampling of clogs in the Piazza Of the field. The night tests are taking place in Siena these days to select the horses to be assigned to the ten districts that will race on Sunday to win the Palio della Madonna di Provenzano. Andrea Sanna, Giovanni Puddu, the very young Dario Zoroddu of Orotelli, Paolo Arru, will be there to show what they are worth. It could be a dream come true, as it was for Tittia, nine Palios won, the king of the square. He leads by example, others hope to become like him.
Joseph Deiana