It is from nearby Atrani, where the solemn investiture ceremony of the Amalfi Doges took place, that the sumptuous historical procession begins, anticipating the Regatta of the Ancient Maritime Republics by one day.

It takes place periodically in Amalfi as in the 2022 edition, the sixty-sixth of the series. A few hundred meters, those that separate the very close centres of Atrani and Amalfi, always united in history. The procession, enriched by the presence of figures from all four Maritime Republics, will find its completion in the spectacular Piazza del Duomo in Amalfi, the traditional setting of the Amalfi historical re-enactment. Place also chosen for the close connection between the origins of the monument and the particular episode that is remembered on the occasion: the marriage between Giovanni, the son and co-regent of Duke Mansone I, and the noble girl Regale from Salerno. Just Mansone, in 987, had started the construction of the new cathedral, to honor even more worthily the new patron Saint Andrew the Apostle. The same cathedral which, embellished over the centuries by new structural interventions and works of art, is the symbol that identifies Amalfi in the world.

THE HISTORICAL PROCESSION OF AMALFI

The original drawings and costumes created for the historical procession in the 1950s by the set designer Roberto Scielzo are kept in the Civic Museum of the Town Hall. After a careful study of historical sources, he managed to reproduce exactly the shape of medieval clothes. They are worn by the extras who impersonate the oarsmen, the valets, the standard-bearer, the trumpeters, the consul of the Republic with the pages, the judges, the consul of the sea, the ambassadors, the duke with the pages, the knights, the standard bearers, ladies and knights of the court, grooms with pages, timpanists, the steward, sailors and archers.

THE HISTORICAL REGATTA SINCE 1956

Although born in the shadow of the Tower of Pisa in 1949, the idea of recalling the glories of the four Italian Maritime Republics, important naval and political powers of the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages, was immediately welcomed in Amalfi, which became a staunch supporter. Also thanks to the mayor of the time, Francesco Amodio, who was an active part in the elaboration of the complex agreement with Pisa, Genoa and Venice, the latter decidedly not in favor of the initiative. Subsequent steps were the drafting of the statute and the adoption of a shared regulation, which was followed by the laborious and intense phase of the creation of the costumes of the historical processions representing the four Republics. Processions that were merged together. Even more significant was the construction, entrusted to the Gondolieri Cooperative of Venice, of the first wooden galleons for the regatta.

After a test race in Genoa, on 29 June, 10 December 1955 in the Amalfi Town Hall, where the Civic Museum is now located, the deed of incorporation of the Regatta organizer was signed. The boats were launched on 9 June 1966 in Venice, with the blessing of the then Patriarch Angelo Roncalli, future Pope John XXIII.

The first edition took place on 1 July 1956 in Pisa. And since then it has been held in turn in the four cities every year on a Sunday between May and July, over a two-kilometre route. Competing with the four registered boats, which are no longer made of wood but of fiberglass, are crews made up of eight rowers and a helmsman, with some reserves. The symbols of the Republics are carved into the figureheads of their boats. That of the Republic of Amalfi is the winged horse, while the identifying color is blue.

Up for grabs for the winner is a gold and silver trophy from the Florentine Goldsmith School, which depicts a rowing galleon supported by four seahorses, under which are the coats of arms of the Republics. The medals of the winning cities are added to the base from edition to edition.