Many towns in Italy hold historic competitions of different types that recall past times.  Perhaps best-known is Siena’s Palio, a no-holds barred horse race in the town’s oval-shaped Campo.  Also famous is Venice’s “regatta” of the feast of the Redemptor.  Or Gubbio’s Palio in which teams compete with crossbows.  Possibly one of the most amazing competitions is the violent sport known as “calcio storico” which is played in Florence and which was the subject of a recent article in The New York Times.  It is a mix of rugby, wrestling, soccer and brutality and broken bones.  As the title of the article goes:  a most dangerous game, but one that still has an impassioned following given the numbers of cheering spectators.