Palio della Mannaja 2024

The Palio is the most important historical event in the country, it recalls an event that really happened in Pietralunga on 11 September 1334, when a certain Giovanni di Lorenzo di Picardia to go on pilgrimage to Lucca passed through Pietralunga, here he was unjustly accused of killing a man and therefore condemned to death. Shortly before the execution, the unfortunate man turned confidently to the Holy Face and when the executioner tried to cut off his head with the cleaver something miraculous happened: the blade turned. There are many testimonies that support this fact, including an autograph letter from Branca de ‘Branci, mayor of Pietralunga and the same mannaja, preserved in the Cathedral of Lucca, hanging near the Chapel of the Holy Face as testimony of the miracle that occurred.