A boat race between galleons, boats with eight oars built to the design of the XII century by Alvio Vaglini and launched on the 9th of June 1956, on the Riva dei Giardini Reali…

The four boats are 11 metres long and weigh 760 kg. each, they have eight oarsmen on fixed seats and a Cox who stands in the stern, they are decorated with the flags of the Republics. The boats are painted in the traditional colours of the four cities to make it easier to distinguish them in the race: Blue for Amalfi, White for Genoa, Red for Pisa , Green for Venice, and they each have a golden figure head in the form of a symbolic animal.

So we see: the winged horse for Amalfi (that with the mermaid was one of the most used motifs in Medieval galleys); the dragon of St. George patron Saint of Genoa; the German Imperial eagle for Pisa (to record the faithful support of the Swabian cause by the Tuscan republic) ; for Venice the lion of St. Mark Evangelist symbol of their Saint and protector …

The race takes place over a distance of 2000 metres in a straight line, on the sea at Amalfi and Genoa, in the lagoon at Venice, and on the river Arno at Pisa. The race at Amalfi starts in the roads off the beach at S.Croce and then parallel to the coast until the finish line in front of Marina Grande….