The Gioco del Ponte, one of the highlights of Giugno Pisano, along with the Luminara and the Palio, will take place on Saturday, June 28, 2025.

THE GAME 

Every last Saturday in June twelve teams of twenty players each face each other pushing hard and using their legs and neck, but not their arms, a very heavy cart that runs on rails, placed at the center of the Ponte di Mezzo on the Lungarni.

The objective is to advance until you drop the enemy faction’s flag. The Game of the Bridge involves 6 fights and the eventual draw.

An ancient tradition but probably the challenge today is born from the ancient game of Mazzascudo, a very violent fight that took place in the Piazza delle Sette Vie, or Piazza dei Cavalieri. A battle-loving city like Pisa had to keep its men constantly trained. The first version of the Bridge Game would be nothing more than this fight played on the Old Bridge, the current Middle Bridge.

Today the 12 magistracies, divided into two parts of 6 magistracies each, called Mezzogiorno and Tramontana, no longer face each other with swords, scudi and the violence that characterized the old version but remains the strong desire to prevail in a challenge that gives great prestige to the winning teams.

The challenges can last from a few seconds to more than twenty minutes: this is the time that a magistrate can take to overcome the direct opponent. In order not to miss these moments full of adrenaline and have the best view, the Pisans are pouring on the shoulders of the lungarni very soon, while the parade of over 700 figures in costume sixteenth which serves as an appetizer to the main appointment of the day. For one evening, in short, the lungarni host a show of great scenographic suggestion that brings back to other eras, still alive in the city spirit, still rightly felt as a boast.

To know the complete calendar of Giugno Pisano:

https://www.turismo.pisa.it/en/eventi/giugno-pisano-2025

PROGRAMME TO BE UPDATED