Kite festival
The skies of Gemona have been coloured with a kite festival at Sella Sant’Agnese on Ascension Day for over 600 years.
Kite festival in Gemona
The meadows outside Gemona host an annual “Kite Festival”, an important event on the calendar for the entire community, which has customarily spent Ascension Day, the celebration of Christ’s ascension into the heavens forty days after Easter, outdoors. An ancient document in the Registry of Diplomacy of the Citizenry reports such celebrations taking place in the year 1371.
The Kite Festival is held on the green meadows of Sella Sant’Agnese, offering an important opportunity for the people of Gemona to get together and showcasing the many charities that operate in the community. The event is open to all. The event features food and beverage stands, booths operated by various local associations, music and games for children and teens. And above all, the AGESCI Scout group of Gemona holds a kite-building workshop!
Since 1998 the event has been organised by the Coordinators of the Cultural and Social Volunteering Associations of Gemona, as part of an initiative known as “I COLORI DEL VENTO”, “the colours of the wind”.
What happened in 2021? In 2021, “I colori del vento“ was, unusually, not held outdoors. But the kites came to the city anyway, and could be seen in the windows of participating shops in the town centre. Gemona will be brightly coloured with kites between May 10 and June 13, 2021 as a sign of sharing and active participation in community life.