WTI Magazine #81    2016 July 15
Author : folclore.it      Translation by:

The "Contesa del Pozzo della Polenta" (Polenta well competition) returns in July 2016. It is the oldest reenactment of the province of Ancona, Marche. The story goes that one day a farmer with great effort ascended the ancient stairway of Corinaldo (109 steps) carrying a heavy sack of corn flour on his shoulders. After more than the half of the climbing, stopping to catch his breath, the man made a stop, cleansing his sweat with his palm, placing the cumbersome burden on the parapet of a well located in the nearby places. Suddenly the bag fell into the well and flour mingled with water.

Some argue that while the farmer was in despair, because he had to feed his family with the flour, a friend of his passed by. Having witnessed to the scene and barely holding back the laughter, to comfort him the friend said "Don't worry, instead of making polenta in your house you made polenta into the well!".
The poor peasant stayed there so long that people gradually gathered around the site of the incident, concerned.

Many people, suspicious that the greedy man would consume on his own the huge portion of polenta made with who knows which kind of new and unique recipe, followed him going down the well to verify.

But the doubt about this version of the story remains nowadays, because many still await a more comprehensive answer: even because there are many variations of this story, all peculiar, witty and salacious as is always the popular imagination around the natural need of food and survival. It is undeniable that, thanks to this tradition, the reputation of Corinaldo has been enormously popular, well beyond the territory of neighboring municipalities.

After the expansion of the walls, completed in 1490, Corinaldo becomes the more attractive bastion of Marche. In 1517 it was elected "Piazza d'armi" by Lorenzo de 'Medici, Duke of Urbino, who also choose the town as shelter for his army against Francesco Maria della Rovere, who, in an effort to complete the conquest of Marche by the Church, tried to conquer Corinaldo too.

After attempts to peacefully resolve the conquest, Corinaldo prepares to face the siege; but thanks to its walls and to the courage of the besieged, though highly dramatic moments, Corinaldo resists, so that Francesco Maria della Rovere, realizing the impossibility to capture it, decides to retire.

With the liberation from the siege, the fame of this outstanding defense spreads all over Europe, and Francesco Guicciardini notes that of the whole Marche territory, Ascoli and Corinaldo are the only towns that resisted to Francesco Maria della Rovere's army.