The Annual Pirate Attack In Termoli

Rosie

Rosie

Community Member
Apr 6, 2013
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Italy
I know this is way ahead of time, but I'll probably forget about this later :D

There's this tradition in Termoli, in the province of Campobasso, a yearly event actually, that is very interesting :) And if you guys ever find yourselves in Southern Italy you should go see it. It's called the yearly pirate attack, it's a summer event taking place on Ferragosto (a.k.a., August 15th).

The burning of the castle, which is the main attraction of the event, is a pretty cool thing! Many people dress up as pirates every year and "raid the town", commemorating the old historical events (in the 16th century, pirates used to come and raid the towns, taking people hostage and transforming them into slaves. This happened a lot, until the people of Termoli ran away one year. The pirates found the city deserted and, enraged, set fire to the castle and the people's homes).

Now, people of Termoli commemorate the events by setting the castle on fire (figuratively). Here are some pretty cool images of what the event looks like.
 
Wow! This sounds hilarious and awesome! And it's actually interesting how something that was probably quite traumatic at the time is now something to celebrate and have fun about.

I was going to come in this thread seeing in the title and say "Well that sounds more fun than terrorist attacks!"... I wonder if one day, some people will celebrate terrorist attacks like they do now pirate attacks. It sounds unthinkable right now, but it would probably sound unthinkable to the Italians of the 16th century, too!
 
I'm sure this would be a pretty interesting spectacle to go see. I will have to keep in mind for the summer. However, I don't understand the though process behind recreating such a tragic event. The whole event seems like a celebration, so I don't understand why you would want to celebrate that. Maybe there is something else behind this whole event that I'm not getting. I highly doubt that people will ever celebrate terrorist attacks. They may commemorate the day and pay their respects, but not in such a way to recreate the horror.

I have to admit that American do recreate civil war battles with enactments, however I think this is because they want to show the strategies that the generals used and the land is still open space in Gettysburg. I guess it is kind of like watching a historic movie live.
 
This is so interesting, I'd not heard about this tradition! When I'd first seen your post, I'd thought it was a real pirate attack and I thought, "goodness, that was centuries ago, do they still happen? Impossible" and then I read what it was about and laughed at my assumption - always thinking the worst, even if it sounds impossible.

I'd like to go! I love all "medieval" things.

P.S to Regina Juno:
I'd heard about these enactments. I'd love to see one. How long do they last? A week? A day? More?
 
Aurelia, I had the same impression! Real pirates attacking, in 2015! :D But then read about it and thought I'd share, because it's such an interesting event! Unique, I might add :)

Regina Juno, I don't understand it either. Usually, tragedies are remembered by events like organizing a parade or by the mayor giving a moving speech or something more "serious", but somehow these people found a way to make commemorating this event fun.
I'd love to go and see it someday though! problem is it's so far away! All the way in Campobasso, ugh! :D
 
Regina Juno said:
I'm sure this would be a pretty interesting spectacle to go see. I will have to keep in mind for the summer. However, I don't understand the though process behind recreating such a tragic event. The whole event seems like a celebration, so I don't understand why you would want to celebrate that. Maybe there is something else behind this whole event that I'm not getting. I highly doubt that people will ever celebrate terrorist attacks. They may commemorate the day and pay their respects, but not in such a way to recreate the horror.

I have to admit that American do recreate civil war battles with enactments, however I think this is because they want to show the strategies that the generals used and the land is still open space in Gettysburg. I guess it is kind of like watching a historic movie live.
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Yup, I don't think terrorist attacks would get celebrated either. This is why I really think that those people from centuries ago would probably think "WTF!" as much as we would about the idea of someone having fun pretending to bomb civilian places and destroy towers and all, y'know?

Reenactions always look boring though. This looks like an actual party!
 
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