16 E carnaval (foto)

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                                                 Ivrea Carnival       

25 - 28 Feb 2006 (annual)
Centro Storico and Borghetto, Ivrea, Italy

The burning of the scarto -Photo Michele Basanese
The Ivrea Carnival isn't the best-known in Italy but, culminating as it does in a three day orange-fight involving the whole town and a bonfire in the main square, it certainly ranks as one of the most enjoyable.
The origins of the carnival are lost in the mists of time, but the goings-on in Ivrea's streets during the carnival period have never had much in common with public order. Street clashes in 1745, for example, prompted the authorities to make it compulsory to carry a lantern at night during the carnival period.

In 1808, the separate carnivals of the five boroughs of Ivrea were united as the town came under Napoleonic administration; from then on the unruly carnival assumed and parodied many elements of the French Revolution, such as the Phrygian bonnets (red dangly night-caps) that you would be well advised to wear to avoid being pummelled with oranges on the final Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the festivities. Among the costumed characters that populate the carnival you will see a chosen townsman rigged up like a Napoleonic General.

The orange fights are held between people on foot, representing the masses, and hooded people standing on wagons drawn by horses in gay trappings, the masters' henchmen. The hail-storm of oranges that falls on the charioteers requires Spartacus-like skill on their part in manoeuvring the two to four horse-drawn carts around the squares; particularly so at the narrow Borghetto.

Battles take place all over town. All the squares have "safe" areas from which the event can be observed. Should you get caught up in the heat of the moment, pick up an orange off the floor and enter the fray. Make sure you give as bad as you get, though: in the spirit of Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite, the carnival is highly democratic and not too selective about its targets.

The main events take place on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday running up to the grand finale on Shrove Tuesday. On the quieter Ash Wednesday, the costumes come off and the whole town gathers in the orange-carpeted piazza where fried polenta and cod are doled out to all and sundry.

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