CARROCCIO. - A special war chariot, used in the Middle Ages, whose primary purpose was to carry the banner of the city. Some cities gave it a name of its own (Regelium, Gaiardus, Blancardus, Berta, Bertazzola). It was a four-wheeled cart, more majestic than ordinary war carts, drawn by several pairs of oxen, painted red or covered with red-vermilion draperies, as were also the oxen that drew it. Upon it there rose one (Milan) or two (Florence) great masts with the banner of the city and a large cross that towered over the ranks.
From it, by means of a bell, the signal for attack was given, and a body of trumpeters spurred on the combat. Before the battle Holy Mass was celebrated there, and it was often the refuge of the wounded: in Milan a chaplain was assigned to it «qui... semper Missam celebret et vulneratis det poenitentiam». For its defense chosen fighters were stationed. To lose it in battle was a grave ignominy, and to capture that of the opposing city a glorious triumph. Frederick II, who in 1237 captured that of Milan, sent it to Rome, to be placed on the Capitoline, in memory of his triumph. In time of peace it was kept in a temple (that of Florence in the "bel S. Giovanni", and it also served in the great manifestations of civil life, as in meeting kings and emperors; at the peace of Paquara, near Verona, promoted by Fra Giovanni da Vicenza of the Preachers (28 Aug. 1233), the communes that took part came with their c. Its origin is uncertain; the period of its greatest use was the 11th-13th centuries; in the 14th century its use disappears. Its diffusion extended to almost all the cities of northern Italy and Tuscany, and also abroad (Germany, Belgium, Hungary, etc.). Today a folkloric memory of it still remains in the manifestations of the "palio" of Siena.
Bibliography3 works
Alberto Ghinato