Venzone's Golden Pumpkin: The story of a mock turned into recurrence

The Venzone pumpkin feast is a real institution: if you’re in these places, you can’t miss it. We decided to retrace the history of this feast, and we found a legend: the one about the golden pumpkin.

In ancient times Venzone Community had to face a critical financial situation, concurrent with the end of the construction of the Cathredal: the monument was without the bell tower. After several meetings, the village opted for an austerity policy, and new tolls and fees were set up to allow the work to continue with the construction of the stone tower. The last assignment, the decoration of the spire with a golden ball on which the cross would be grafted, was commissioned to an Udinese artisan, who after a while was afraid of completing the work. At the end of the work, the village wasn’t in the position of fully repay the craftsman, who received just a third of the initially agreed remuneration.

The man took the miserable sum, and then started to plan a vengeance. During the night he climbed the spire and replaced the golden ball with a painted pumpkin of the same size, so he left the town.

After some time, citizens realized that something was changing: the golden ball was changing color and shape. Many suppositions were made, many of which talked about magic and curses, until one day the ball rolled to the ground. Only then Venzone's citizens noticed the mockery: it was in fact a pumpkin that, falling to the ground, splashed in many parts. The Council immediately ordered to remove the remains of the pumpkin, hoping that such mockery would not be told. Nevertheless from that day the inhabitants of Venzone were inevitably associated with the pumpkins.

To remember this fact, every year, at the end of october is celebrated the Pumpkin Festival, during which the medieval village returns to revive the atmosphere of that time.