Italian Donkey Race

Last weekend we drove about 8 miles northwest of here to a small town called Isola Vicentina. The town was having a Sagra, which is comparable to a local fair. They usually have bands play at night, food booths, and a few carnival rides. This particular town had a Donkey race on Sunday. Taylor and I drove out Sunday afternoon to experience our first traditional Italian donkey race…it was awesome!

Here are the donkeys before the race. They have no idea what is about to happen.

The race course was in one of the town's parks.

So after about 10 minutes of dragging the donkeys onto the race track they finally get them all facing the same way and ready to race. The crowd counts down…tre….due…uno! Vai! And what happens?? Nothing. Not one donkey moved. 

There was a lot of getting on and off the donkey and pulling. 

Hmmm…not sure the donkey on the left is going the right direction?

This donkey took off, was gaining speed, and then just stopped sending the rider over this head.

This guy finally got his donkey to move only to go about 4 yards and then stop and eat some grass. This happened quite a bit throughout the race.

The winner was this guy, and I say that he won because he had on Cowboy boots…I mean how else are you going to ride a donkey?

We got there a little early so we drove up a few of the foothills in the area to check out the scenery.

We ordered some food at the large tent they had set up for the Sagra. Taylor had Wurstel (sausage) with Krout and fagioli (beans) and patate fritte (french fries). I had bigoli (type of pasta) with ragu (meat sauce).

Spring is here and everything is blooming!!!