The Antella Fair has a very old history. It was thanks to the efforts of Councillor Ubaldini Peruzzi who in 1872 made “publicly known that on the following 4 and 5 November, an extraordinary Cattle and Goods Fair etc. will take place in the Village of Antella”. It was only in 1897 it was set to be held annually on the first Monday in October.
Over the years, religious festivals, concerts, charity exhibitions, “the electric lighting of the town”, cycling races and “Roman horse racing” were linked to the Fair from the Pedriali gate to the cemetery.
A series of makeshift stalls for street traders who sold “each of God’s goods” for the young and old were scattered throughout the square and around the so-called “round of cod” which included the core of the town’s housing. For the country people it was the annual opportunity to buy the distinctive green umbrella with its wooden handle, some Tuscan cigars for the head of the household, a pair of cowhide shoes and, perhaps, a new shirt. And of course they restocked with a large supply of salt. The fireworks at the end of the day were the most anticipated by the entire population who asked around with concern: “But are the doing the fireworks there this year?”
Among the most curious characters who attended the Fair is the Ceccherini, a peddler of razor blades and shaving creams known throughout the Florentine district as a singer in ottava rima. He was among the first to arrive in the town, he would prepare his stall with products to sell (which, in truth, he did not care that much about) and would place a nice pair of Maremma ox horns in the middle which he would stroke continuously with clear and hilarious references to someone in the audience who accepted, willingly, the sarcastic jokes that were addressed directly to him or “his wife who had stayed home with the farmer” or the mother-in-law. For many years until his death in 1973 he was a major attraction around which many people gathered to hear him sing poetry or lock horns “suddenly” with an old friend.
Since 1983, the newly constituted Comitato Vivere in Antella gave new impetus to the Fair, which has extended over to the prior Saturday and Sunday, with exhibitions, parades, cultural and sporting events that, after alternate events, have started up again with enthusiasm in recent years.
