Viareggio Carnival
Viareggio Carnival - Dario Fo float
Viareggio Carnival (Viareggio Carnevale) is one of the most important and big carnivals in Italy and in the world, along with Venice Carnival.
Viareggio is a beautiful seaside resort in Versilia Riviera, on the Northern Tuscan coast, between Portofino and Cinque Terre on the North and Pisa on the South, near Lucca and the Apuane Alps.
Viareggio Carnival is a 16-day period of fun during the Mardi Gras festivities. It takes place in February and March.
Carnival is a specific period of the year. Although "Carnival" in English does not have a time connotation and refers generally to any festival or revel, the English term derives from the Italian "Carnevale". It means the period of fun, feasting and merrymaking just before Lent starts with its 40 days of abstinence.
During Carnival many Italian cities and towns celebrate this time of fun in their own specific way, creating festivals each with its own local colour.
Like other renowned carnivals in Italy, notably the Venice Carnival, the Carnival of Viareggio is characterized by visual displays of high artistic level.
Artistic floats big and small that took a whole year to build, created by artists with the help of craftsmen, are then paraded on the seafront on four different dates, called "corsi mascherati".
The floats are very colourful, full of humour and irony in the true Carnival spirit, often with a satirical intent: this is why they are called "carri allegorici".
Viareggio Carnival - Renato Zero float
Two floats from Viareggio Carnival are pictured here: the one above is a caricature or parody of Nobel-laureate playwright Dario Fo, the one below of the provocative singer Renato Zero.
The floats are huge, they are often taller than the buildings along the promenade. People who see them for the first time are usually impressed by their size, which was unexpected. But they are also beautiful and extremely complex. It takes about a year to make one of them. The creator is often a renowned local artist, a painter whose float carries his signature as if it were a painting or sculpture.
He is aided by a team of many craftsmen working with him in the big purpose-built hangars at the edge of the town. The material used is papier-mâché.
While it is paraded, circling on the seafront, the float is animated from within by several people who operate the mechanisms that make heads on the float turn, eyes roll, mouths open and smile, arms and legs raise, birds spread their wings, and every little detail come to life.
In addition to the floats, other smaller displays follow in a circle, as well as mascherate, i.e. lines of people wearing on their heads masks made of papier-mâché, and marching brass bands, one of which is Viareggio's own band, La Libecciata.
Besides the corsi mascherati, which take place on 3 successive Sundays during Carnival and on the day of Mardi Gras, the various areas and neighbourhoods of Viareggio organize local street parties, le feste rionali.
People wear masks, kids turn up in fancy dresses, and at night everybody dances in the streets and has a good time.
The Carnival of Viareggio dates back a couple of centuries, but officially it started in the 1870s, and has been repeated every year since, looked forward to with great expectation by the locals.