Animating the squares of Cividale during the Easter festivities is the Truc, a game dating back to the eighteenth century at the least, according to a manuscript preserved in the museum of Cividale.

The game is played in a large oval-shaped sand basin with a sloping slope, inside which the participants (and I assure you not only the children are amused by this game) must drop, according to precise rules, colored hard-boiled eggs, with the intent of making them touch and crush.

The Truc has the characteristic of being peculiar to the Cividalese area only. In fact it is not practiced elsewhere within the borders of Friuli, and it is played strictly on Easter and Easter Monday.

The word Truc evokes the main action of the game, by imitating the sound of the eggs touching and of the shells crushing. It is structured with well-defined but simple rules, which have facilitated its transfer between generations, contributing to its longevity. This traditional game is defined by the rules and not by the timing, which may depend on the number and on the skills of the players and its duration is theoretically unlimited.

The rules of the game are:

1) Use only hard-boiled and colored chicken eggs,

2) When the egg is thrown, it must touch the tile (Cop in the Friulian language)

3) The egg must be let go without pushing,

4) The goal is to hit one or more eggs inside the Truc,

5) Whoever strikes has to procede again until they fail to touch other eggs,

6) The owner of the hot egg, in order to re-enter the game, must redeem it by paying the one who rescued it and queue up to launch,

7) If the last player does not hit any egg, the game is resumed by the one who first threw the egg in the Truc (Vecjo di Truc),

8) Whoever withdraws from the game must leave a ransom, a coin, which will be placed in the basin in the same place of the egg leaving the game.

The eggs used must be hard-boiled chicken eggs and must be painted according to the Cividalese tradition: in a piece of colored felt, arrange the egg together with flowers and herbs (you can use primroses, dandelions, parsley, red onion peel , coffee grounds, wild garlic flowers, etc). Once you have filled the piece of fabric with all the ingredients, tie it with a thread and place it in a pot covered with water to which vinegar and coarse salt are added. Boil the eggs for about fifteen minutes, let them cool and then remove the wrapping, you will be amazed by your creations ...

Here at Domus iulii, Francesca and Cristina wish you a happy Easter and even if we cannot see you this year, we look forward to playing with you next year.