Sbandieratori dei Rioni di Cori - Renaissance Flag-Throwers of Cori

Cori, a little village close to Rome, is well known in the world to be the cradle of the Renaissance Flag-Throwers, who have performed in several countries.
Beginning from 1966, Mr. Giovanni Pistilli started to work with the youth of the town, raising the awareness on folklore and ancient italian culture heritage. Flag-Throwing dates back to Renaissance times when three young knights were invited to take part in the Games organised in Rome in 1512. Their flags had the emblems of both Cori and Rome.

The group has received several awards over the years both at home and abroad:

500th AMERICA’S DISCOVERY CELEBRATION -1992 (Columbus – OH, U.S.A.);
EPCOT CENTER – WALT DISNEY WORLD award from Walt Disney co. (Orlando – FL, U.S.A.);
CHINA International Folk Art Festival Special Prize (Huangshan – China);
Folklore Oscar – World Folklore Festival (Gorizia – Italy);
Premio Campidoglio from Roma’s Town Council (Roma – Italy);
BICENTENARY OF THE ITALIAN FLAG award (Roma – Italy);
PREMIO SIMPATIA 1974 - important award conceived by the famous historiographer Domenico Pertica. The group got it from a Committee of very important peolple of the cultural and show jet set like the director Vittorio De Sica and the actress Sophia Loren (Roma – Italy);
HONG KONG TOURISM BOARD Special Prize - 2006 Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade (Hong Kong – China);
etc.
The group was created by Prof. Giovanni Pistilli who have been, for long time, President of the Festival Commission of the C.I.O.F.F. (International Council of Organisations for Folklore Festivals and Folk Art. NGO in formal consultative relations with UNESCO).

Over the years honorary membership has been granted to local dignitaries such as Mr Hubert Howard, widower of Mrs Lelia Caetani the last member of the noble family and owner of the castle, in nearby Sermoneta and of the famous bothanic Garden of the Ninfa (Medieval town) the wide known “Pompei del Medioevo” .

The group’s spectacular performances have been enhanced over the years through the musical support both tambourines and trumpets.

Moments that we consider to be the most important in our history are when we represented Italy in the Opening Ceremony of the 24th OLYMPIC GAMES in Seoul, South Korea; Opening Ceremony of the 20th OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES Torino 2006, Italy; when we took part in the event Cinema Italian Style at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood – Los Angeles, in U.S.A. ; when we were invited to perform at the WORLD EXPOSITION in Japan in 1985 (Tsukuba) and in 2005 (Aichi). However, our greatest moment was when, as official representatives of our country, we took part in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland.