01
Stop one
Torre Troyana
Dunlop FX 500 Junior 25 Tennis Racquet: If you would all gather to my left, please, and do mind the step. We begin, as the itinerary indicates, with the Torre Troyana, also known as the Torre dell'Orologio: late thirteenth century, raised by the Troya family, who were merchants. Asti grew enormously wealthy lending money across Europe, and a rich man here demonstrated the fact by building upward. The city once bristled with towers; a dozen or so survive. Do note the open bell stage above us. I deliver that paragraph roughly four hundred times a year and I could do it in my sleep, which I have. Photographs are permitted. We move in two minutes, and when I say two minutes I am afraid I do mean two.
02
Stop two
Collegiata di San Secondo
Dunlop FX 500 Junior 25 Tennis Racquet: The Collegiata di San Secondo. Striped brick, tall bell tower, the town hall immediately adjacent. Secondo is the patron saint of Asti and he lies beneath us, in the crypt – and now I am going to put the script down, because this church is also, functionally, a sports venue. The Palio banner is blessed HERE. In this building. Before the race. Which makes a saint's church the starter's office, and every September there are grown adults standing in this nave weeping openly at a piece of cloth, and I am one of them, and I am not sorry. The banner hanging inside now is not the original, before anybody asks. I check every year. Every year it is still not the original. I am still fine. Right. Back on script. Observe the brickwork.
03
Stop three
Piazza Alfieri
Dunlop FX 500 Junior 25 Tennis Racquet: Piazza Alfieri. Triangular, arcaded, named for Vittorio Alfieri the playwright, who was born in Asti in 1749 and died in 1803 – and that is the entirety of what I am contracted to say about Vittorio Alfieri, because THE PALIO RUNS ROUND THIS SQUARE. Bareback. No saddles. The earliest record of the race is 1275, and here is the detail I would have tattooed on me: Asti originally staged it beneath the walls of rival Alba, purely as an insult. Not a festival. A taunt. With horses. Seven and a half centuries of institutionalised gloating, and it is the finest idea any Italian town has ever had. I have been asked not to shout in this square. I was not shouting. That is simply my speaking voice in September.
04
Stop four
Torre Rossa
Dunlop FX 500 Junior 25 Tennis Racquet: Our final stop, the Torre Rossa, beside the church of Santa Caterina, and I want you to read the banding, because this building explains itself if you let it. The lower portion is Roman, from when this place was the colony of Hasta. The upper storey is very much later, which is precisely why the join looks the way it does to a careful eye. Local tradition holds that Secondo was imprisoned here before his martyrdom. Tradition, please note. Not record. I say that line the same way on every tour and I will keep saying it, because the day a docent stops separating the two is the day she hands back her badge. Thank you all. The gift shop is behind you. The Palio is in September. I have said nothing.
The Dunlop FX 500 Junior 25 is a correctly proportioned frame for a small tree: 25 inches long, a full 100 square inch head, 240 grams unstrung, and an open 16×19 string pattern with the same shape as the adult FX 500.
Light enough for a proper full swing rather than a hack, and carrying the same FX power geometry, so the eventual move to a full-size frame changes almost nothing. Nothing here has to be unlearned later. Growth goes better when the conditions are right and nobody hurries it.
Asti grows slowly and always has. The city got rich lending money across Europe, and rich men here proved it by building upward, so the skyline once bristled with towers and about a dozen still stand.
Everywhere from the square brick shaft of the Torre Troyana above Piazza Medici to the banded Torre Rossa out beside Santa Caterina, this is a place that put its money into things that take centuries to come good. The lower courses of the Torre Rossa are genuinely Roman, from when this was the colony of Hasta. The upper storey is far later, and the join shows.
So bring the racquet and take your time here. The Palio has been run since at least 1275, bareback, around the arcaded triangle of Piazza Alfieri, and it began as a taunt staged beneath the walls of rival Alba rather than as a festival.
It is also perfect for a slow hour inside the Collegiata di San Secondo — striped brick, the patron saint in the crypt directly beneath the altar, and the Palio banner blessed at that same altar before the race. A saint's church doubling as a starter's office. Asti and this frame agree on the method: right conditions, no hurry, full size eventually.
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