The best carnivals in Italy

The word Carnival derives from the Latin carnem levare, a phrase referring to the fast of the days following the feast: Shrove Tuesday in fact coincided with the last day of celebration before the Lenten period, a moment that, for Christians, meant rigor and abstinence before Easter. Despite being considered a Christian holiday, Carnival has its roots in the excesses of the Bacchanals, the Saturnalia and the Roman Lupercali, preserving its festive and transgressive attitude. In Italy, the imaginary of Carnival is linked to the presence of masks, parades, long celebrations, decorated floats, a series of traditions that vary from region to region and rituals that, often, are a legacy of ancient customs. There are many people who, throughout the peninsula, take to the streets to throw confetti or eat sweets in company, but there are some events that transcend the city boundaries and become real international events. Here are the most famous!

The Carnival of Venice (Veneto)

(Immage done by @iordan_costel_55)

Probably the most famous Carnival in Italy, Venice’s is a festival that has ancient origins. The first traces of its existence are found in the Middle Ages, shortly after the year 1000, and draw inspiration from the Roman Saturnalia and the Greek Dionysians, wild celebrations in which social roles were reversed between processions, dances and music. During the festivities, the mask played a fundamental role in annulling the distances between social classes, ensuring the total anonymity of the population and allowing meetings that could never have happened in the light of day.
Today, the Carnival of Venice lasts eleven days; in the eighteenth century, instead, in what is considered its golden century, six weeks, in the period of time that passed between Christmas and Lent. These were the times of Goldoni and his Commedia dell'Arte, of Giacomo Casanova, of the sumptuous masquerade dances in Venetian palaces: these were abruptly interrupted at the end of the century by the Austro-French domination and the Carnival in the city will resume only in the 70s of the twentieth century, with the appearance that characterizes it even today.

The Carnival of Viareggio (Tuscany)

Of more recent origin than the Venetian one, the Carnival of Viareggio was born at the end of the nineteenth century, but in its (relatively) short existence it has managed to establish itself as one of the most important events at the national level. It’s held close to the beginning of Lent and lasts a month, in which the carts are paraded 5 times, on every Sunday and on Shrove Tuesday. Absolute protagonists of the festival are the papier-mâché floats, which often draw inspiration from politics and current events reinterpreting them with satire, and the Burlamacco and the Ondina, the masks of the event, respectively a Carnival and Viareggio mascot and a symbol of the link between the sea and the city.

The Carnival of Ivrea (Piedmont)

The Carnival of Ivrea, in the Canavese area, is an institution in Piedmont. A very ancient festival (it dates back to the Middle Ages), its symbol is the Vezzosa Mugnaia, or the legendary heroine Violetta, who allegedly murdered the terrible Marquis Monferrato freeing the people from his tyrannical regime, and that during the Carnival parades on a golden chariot between pages and damsels. Even the rituals of the event evoke the legend of Monferrato, among which the most famous is the iconic Battle of the Oranges. The latter is a competition that has no equal in Italy in which the orange throwers, divided into teams of hundreds of people and between those on foot and those on carts, represent the popular revolt against tyranny. A final trophy is reserved for the team that will excel in ardor and loyalty in the launch, in the main squares of the city, of 7000 tons of oranges (arriving mainly from Sicily and Calabria).

The Carnival of Cento (Emilia Romagna)

(Immage done by @antonio.iac)

Cento is a town in the province of Ferrara, famous for being the birthplace of Guercino, one of the seventeenth-century Italian protagonists in painting. In his frescoes you can find the first traces of the Carnival of Cento, an event that has gained a new fame after 1990, the year in which it twinned up with the most famous Carnival in the world, that of Rio de Janeiro. In the days of the event, the carnival societies of the city compete to decide the winner of the best float: the Carnival lasts for 5 Sundays between disguises, dances and masks, but the most spectacular event is undoubtedly the revenue of peluches and inflatable, launched from the carts towards the spectators.

The Carnival of Fano (Marche)

The Carnival of Fano, in the Marche region, is among the oldest in Italy. It is a peculiar and folkloristic event, in which for three Sundays the floats parade to the rhythm of Music Arabita (Arabita means "angry"), a cheerful melody typical of the Carnival of Fano reminiscent of jazz, but which is performed with improbable instruments, including tubes and cans. Fundamental is the presence of the Pupo, symbol of the event whose burning marks the end of the festivity, but also of the revenue of tons of sweets from the carts (whose preparation takes several months) to spectators. A summer version of the Carnival of Fano is also organized in July, where the floats present at the Winter Carnival parade along the promenade next to the sea.

The Carnival of Putignano (Puglia)

Even the Carnival of Putignano has its own summer version, but the most famous is undoubtedly the winter one, which makes it the longest (it lasts from 26 December to Lent) and oldest in Europe. It is characterized mainly by the presence of large carts in papier-mâché (the result of the meticulous work of local workers), the Propaggini, the inaugural rite that consists of a satirical declamation from contemporary poets against powerful people, and Farinella, the mask-symbol of the Carnival that takes its name from the homonymous typical dish, based on chickpeas and barley. The most picturesque moment of the event is the Macaroni Bell, which marks 365 chimes before the end of the event: while listening to the chimes, it is tradition for citizens to dance and eat macaroni with tomato and sausage.

The Carnival of Acireale (Sicily)

The first testimonies of the Carnival of Acireale, in the province of Catania, date back to the sixteenth century and even there, in ancient times, citizens used to throw oranges, a ritual that survives today in the Piedmontese Carnival of Ivrea. It is traditionally considered the most beautiful Carnival of Sicily: the chariots of the event are divided into allegorical floats, flowery floats and floats in miniature (called Lilliput) and the event includes several folk masks, including the King Prankster, whose handing over of the city keys marks the beginning of the festivities.

The Carnival of Mamoiada (Sardinia)

Folklore event unknown to most until a few years ago, the Carnival of Mamoiada is a Sardinian tradition that begins on January 17 and lasts for weeks. The fame of the event is mainly linked to the presence of the Mamuthones and the Issohadores, masks that, with their costumes (dark furs, bells and masks with rough features the Mamuthones, red bodices, white masks and trousers for the Issohadores) parade in procession, dancing to the rhythm of popular dances in the streets of the city and involving spectators. No papier-mâché carts, colorful disguises or launches of sweets or inflatable: that of Mamoiada is an archaic celebration, more mysterious than flashy, which has its roots in primordial times and refers to the most animalistic part of man.

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