A.S.Co.T.
A.S.Co.T. Fencing III - Syracuse 2011
From Friday the 25th to Sunday the 27th of November 2011
Sicily has hosted the third ASCoT Fencing event.
The organisation of these enticing days has been made possible thanks to the kind efforts of our ASCoT Three-Sicilies Ambassador Prince Gabriele Alliata di Villafranca, his cousins and friends of the local Sicilian families.
ASCoT’S Sicilian Expedition
"Graeca victa, Roma capta".
The same could be said of the international team of ASCoT fencers who visited Sicily on the last weekend of November 2011. Our team included guest fencers from the Automobile Club de France, sealing a friendship forged during Escrime II in Paris, and Italian fencers introduced by the Sala d’Armi Musumeci Greco, building on friendships begun in 2010 when the club visited Rome at the occasion of ASCoT Escrime I. It is true that ASCoT won the encounter against a team of valiant opponents from the Fencing Club CONAD Scherma Mondica, but it is no less true that the sportsmanship of the Sicilian fencers and their spirit of competition in a hard fought match captivated the ASCoT team.
The event took place in the ballroom of the magnificent Palazzo Beneventano, a baroque palace on facing the cathedral on the main square of Syracuse. The cathedral itself was a visible reminder of the city’s antiquity, integrating pillars from the ancient Temple of Athena and it is no exaggeration to claim that all fencers were conscious of how privileged they were to be practicing the oldest sport in the world in a baroque ballroom in sight of the principal temple of one of the richest cities of antiquity.
All this was made possible thanks to the efforts of our Chairman and the Club’s Ambassador to the three Sicilies, Prince Gabriele Alliata di Villafranca who between them introduced ASCoT to the leading families of Syracuse, who responded enthusiastically to the proposition of ASCoT staging an event in their town. Marquis Tommaso Gargallo di Castel Lentini and his family graciously received us for a welcome and get-together drink on the Friday evening. It was here that we began to feel the first rays of the warmth of true Sicilian hospitality.
The Marquis is a champion in sport of equestrian carriage riding and invited us to experience this unusual sport at his farm on Sunday morning.
Saturday comprised 5 hours of fencing in the presence of Baron Pietro and his lady wife Rose Anna Beneventano di Monteclimiti, the owners of Palazzo Beneventano, whose family has resided in the palace since acquiring it from the Order of Malta 250 years ago.
Sadly our opponents had to depart and so were unable to join us for the sumptuous lunch which had been prepared for us in the vaulted cellars of the palace. Replete, we retired to recover in time for the evening’s activity.
This comprised a dinner at the Villa Aranjaya home of Baron Rudolf von Freyberg and his wife Baroness Benedikta, a cousin of Count Christian zu Stolberg-Stolberg, one of ASCoT's six founder members. The Freybergs had also arranged for some of their friends to join us at a splendid dinner characterised by relaxed hosting and animated conversation, where all, ASCoTians and others, were at ease, talking as if they were old friends, shifting effortlessly between languages and experiencing the club's true spirit.
It is only fitting to close where we began: in the company of Marquis Tommaso Gargallo di Castel Lentini and his charming family (one should not forget to mention that Andrea Gargallo, the Marquis’ young nephew, fenced for ASCoT and gained a silver medal). The Marquis treated us to an hour long ride on a horse-drawn carriage though the citrus groves of his estate. The experience was undoubtedly a high point in a weekend of superlatives. A keen equestrian himself as well as being the overall winner of the individual fencing competition, Hugues Vallette-Viallard, with Sylvain one of our two guests from the Automobile Club de France, enjoyed the immense privilege of sitting on the driver’s bench with the Marquis as he demonstrated the skills that had made him a champion in this branch of sport.
We said our farewells with promises to return before attending a lunch buffet at Palazzo Biscari the Catania home of Princess Giovanna Moncada Paternò Castello. At this occasion, her son Prince Lorenzo, an enthusiastic and experienced yachtsman, accepted with alacrity the Chairman’s invitation to become the ASCoT Sailing Captain. We shall certainly hear more of him.
ASCoTia Sicilia capta then dispersed, already dreaming of the next event...
To learn more about this event click HERE *
* Members only! (Page with restricted access)
