TUCCI1969-004 - ethnographic attestation
Boys of Petriolo, Macerata
Marche - Macerata - Southern Europe (NE Italy)
Play / practical
svendola Italian
At Petriolo in the Marche the svendola was an autumn toy, and making one had its own small craft: the cord-hole was bored wide with a red-hot knitting needle, so that no sharp edge would cut the string in mid-flight. The folklorist Giovanni Ginobili, who grew up with it, remembered it whirled in every direction — even over the head.
La svendola … nella mia infanzia era grandemente in uso a Petriolo, terra mia natale.
The svendola, in my childhood, was greatly in use at Petriolo, the town where I was born.
Giovanni Ginobili to Tucci, 24 Dec. 1961 (Tucci 1969, p. 369)
- Object
- Thin board with a terminal cord-hole bored wide with a red-hot knitting needle so no sharp edge frays the string; single cord held in the fingers.
- Function
- Autumn boys' game, the board whirled in every direction, even over the head.
- Map confidence
- medium - Petriolo town, Macerata province.
- Source location
- Tucci 1969, p. 369
- Toy / secular survival