What is the woman above preparing for? Why is her fist clenched as if the championship of the world is at stake? And finally…what are all those eggs doing in front of her? It’s “Punta e Cul”!
Ladies and gents, we are about to begin the world championship Easter egg game. The one with the most unbroken eggs wins. The eggs are hard boiled, of course, uove sode in Italian. The stadium is the dining room at the fabulous organic temple of great organic food Agriturismo Pieve del Colle near Urbania in Le Marche.
Here are the rules. Each contestant holds an egg firmly in a clenched fist, as in the picture above, with just the tip of the egg (the pointy end) showing. Then, the first to play chooses an opponent from around the table and the pair bash their egg’s pointy ends together with the degree of violence each views as the amount crucial for victory (the kids tend to bash with quite a bit more vigor than the older folks, I wonder why?). Whoever comes away with the unbroken egg gets sole possession of his opponent’s broken egg, then challenges another player at the table for a bash. The player who has accumulated the most smashed eggs wins. Yes, only one egg breaks each time.
For a while, your humble reporter began accumulating eggs like the biggest and strongest fox in the hen house. Then I was overtaken by a ringer, the waitress at our dinner. I am demanding a rematch, having taken second place over all the other patrons at Agriturismo Pieve del Colle. Besides, staying after for a meal would be a great joy, win or lose.
Just one last note on the Agriturismo pictured here. On the property of this organic farm, in the midst of the freshly sprouted organic wheat, the Balcony of Piero della Francesca has been discovered and marked so that you can gaze out at the landscape preferred by owner Federico da Montefeltro (he of the famous dented nose profile) and his painter Piero della Francesca. I’ll be writing more about the trail of this famous painter and his patron later.
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