Wheeled carts

Wheeled carts are widely played all over Italy; they are means of transportation with different kinds of wheels. Since they are not drawn, wheeled cart races have to take place in downhill tracks.

Many adults are involved in building and playing carts, before throwing themselves downhill. Because of safety reasons, the game is  played mostly by adults. Although it might seem easy, driving a cart requires specific skills. On the Modena Appenines carts can reach up to 100 km/h.

Historical Background

Since the invention of the wheel, there have been many forms of carts used as a means of transportation. Over the course of the centuries, not only the materials and construction techniques have changed, but also the number of wheels. As was the case with other fundamental inventions in human history, the wheel did not bring only technological advances in transport, but was part of games played by both children and adults. 

There is evidence of games that used wagons and carts in Greek and Roman civilizations: kids in Ancient Greece  used to play and compete with a very simple self-built tool (“amaxis”), consisting of a stick ending with a fork on which was placed a wheel, and used small carts to help adults transport goods (findings kept at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam and the British Museum in London); in ancient Rome the Patricians (members of the elite class of ancient Roman society) had their chariots built by skilled craftsmen (war, procession or race chariots, used in the Ancient Rome circus), made of wood or ivory, and pulled by medium-sized animals (dogs, goats, sheep) linked with a leather string.

Another evidence of this game can be found in Piazza Armerina (Sicily), in a mosaic in the vestibule of the small Circuses of Villa Romana del Casale, illustrating both the four seasons and charioteers at the circus; the latter depicts the race of four chariots led by children and pulled by pairs of wild pigeons, peafowls, blue red and white flamingos, and geese.

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