THURSDAY 5 to MONDAY 9 SEPTEMBER - CISANO, BARDOLINO
Savour the memory of times gone by.
In the first half of the last century, employment was almost exclusively peasant and the ways to combat this atavistic hunger, in addition to agriculture, were hunting and fishing.
Fishing because of the presence of the lake and hunting because of the geographical location on a migratory route that regularly brings birds from the north-northeast to our area on their way to milder climates for wintering. Bird fairs arose in the 13th century, some of which are still held today.
It was at that time that the nobles, the owners of the land, reserved the hunting of resident game, mainly furry, and gave the people, who were already doing it illegally, the right to catch birds with nets.
Hence the need to procure nets and tools suitable for the purpose, and hence the birth of the fairs. Although it is not documented, it is very likely that the ‘sagra dei osei di Cisano’ (Cisano Bird Festival) also arose at that time.
In Cisano, the fair gained great notoriety. In fact, on 20 September 1903, La Domenica del Corriere, published a cover story drawn from life by the painter Beltrame with the caption: La caratteristica fiera di uccelli da richiamo a Cisano. This shows that although there are fairs that boast ancient origins, a hundred years ago the most famous bird fair in Italy was ours.