Carnival in Italy

Carnival in Italy plays a very important role in Italian folklore, traditionally linked to regional masks, and is celebrated in many cities, some of which are known throughout the world for the special celebrations they organize for this occasion. It is a farewell party to eat, drink, and have fun before the limitations and solemnity of Lent. About a month before Ash Wednesday, Italians celebrate over many weekends with parades, masks, and confetti. The most famous Carnivals in Italy are those held in Venice, Viareggio, Ivrea, Cento, Apulia and Acireale. These Carnivals include masquerades and parades.

The Carnival in Venice was first documented in 1296, with a proclamation by the Venetian Senate announcing a public festival the day before the start of Lent. Today, about 3 million people travel to Venice to take part in the famous Carnival. The Carnival of Viareggio is the second-most popular in Italy. The first Carnival of Viareggio parade was held in 1873. Every year, the Carnival of Viareggio attracts more than 500,000 spectators. The Carnival of Ivrea is famous for its "Battle of the Oranges" fought with fruit between the people on foot and the troops of the tyrant on carts, to remember the wars of the Middle Ages, allegory of struggle for freedom. It is the largest food fight in Italy and surrounding countries. Regarding the origins, a popular account has it that the battle commemorates the city's defiance against the city's tyrant, who is either a member of the Ranieri family or a conflation of the 12th-century Ranieri di Biandrate and the 13th-century Marquis William VII of Montferrat. The Ambrosian carnival is widespread in the most part of the Archdiocese of Milan, where the Ambrosian Rite is observed, and in this area the Carnival ends on the first Sunday of Lent; the last day of Carnival is Saturday, 4 days after the Tuesday on which it ends where the Roman Rite is observed.

In Sardinia, the Carnival (in Sardinian language Carrasecare or Carrasegare) varies greatly from the one in the mainland of Italy. the majority of the Sardinian celebrations features not only feasts and parades but also crude fertility rites such as bloodsheds to fertilize the land, the death and the resurrection of the Carnival characters and representations of violence and torture. The typical characters of the Sardinian Carnival are zoomorphic and/or androgynous, such as the Mamuthones and Issohadores from Mamoiada, the Boes and Merdules from Ottana and many more. The Carnival is celebrated with street performances that are typically accompanied by Sardinian dirges called attittidus, meaning literally "cry of a baby when the mother does not want to nurse him/her anymore" (from the word titta meaning breasts). Other particular and important Carnival instances in Sardinia are the Sartiglia in Oristano and the Tempio Pausania Carnival.