History

A tug of love. Marostica, 1454. The noblemen Vieri da Vallonara and Rinaldo d’Angarano had fallen hopelessly in love with Lionora, the beautiful daughter of the Venetian governor Taddeo Parisio, and had challenged each other to a duel for her hand. The fair maiden’s father prevented this battle to the death, compelling the two suitors to opt instead for a chess game to be played out in the town square, with live chess pieces. Following a parade of the castle’s armed men, the populace and the embassies of the towns who enjoyed friendly relations with Marostica were treated to the most extraordinary knightly challenge ever witnessed in the realm of Venice. The winner was granted the fair Lionora’s hand, while the loser was granted the hand of Oldrada, the governor’s younger sister, with celebrations accompanied by fireworks, dancing and music.

Discover the story

The manuscript

"…avvegnaché, avendo ne li tempi andati…" these are the opening words of the story of the Human Chess Game, penned by Lunardo da Fiatolongo, historian and secretary to the Venetian governor of Marostica. The manuscript, composed of two pages of faded parchment, was rediscovered in 1923 in the old Chancery of Marostica, but was destroyed by a fire that broke out in the archives in 1958.

The Script

The story is set in 1454, in the thick of an age of power and wealth that shaped the legend of Venice. It tells of two valorous noblemen of Marostica who challenged one another to a duel after both fell hopelessly in love with the beautiful daughter of the castellan. In accordance with an ancient edict, the young woman’s father decreed that he would give his daughter in marriage to the winner of a game of chess, and would grant the hand of his younger sister to the loser. The challenge was to take place in the piazza, or town square, using live chess pieces, before the local noble classes, visiting embassies and the townsfolk, following a parade. The epic battle ended with the victory of the suitor the fair maiden was secretly in love with, and the two marriages were celebrated to the joyful peal of the bells, accompanied by festive fireworks, dancing and music.

The creator Francesco Pozza

Born and raised in Marostica, chess and theatre enthusiast Francesco Pozza created and directed the first Chess Game with human chess pieces in fourteenth-century costume in 1923. The idea came to him following his carnival triumph in Bassano with a seventeenth-century costume, and after seeing a game of chess played with human figures in a magazine. He enlisted the help of his friends from the Student Circle, and found the 36 volunteers for the chess pieces, and in just a few months, Pozza succeeded in staging the historical performance, which was a roaring success; the poet D’Annunzio even decided to pay his own personal tribute to the performers by flying his plane over the game area.

The scriptwriter. Mario Mirko Vucetich

It was in 1954 that the entrepreneur and manager of the Pro Marostica Association, Angelo Carlo Festa, contacted the artist Mario Mirko Vucetich, his tenant in Vicenza, and asked him to work on the new edition of the Chess Game, devised back in 1923 by Francesco Pozza. The moment Vucetich set foot in Marostica, it was love at first sight. The artist became a long-term guest in the hotel in the square, planting his flag on the balcony and started studying the old documents held in the municipal historical archives. It did not take him long to develop the idea, sketch out the characters and start writing the script for what is today the town’s Living Chess Game.

The challenge