The Piedmont region of northwestern Italy bordering on France to the west and Switzerland to the north is particularly known for its wines. So you have one more reason to enjoy Carnevale in this lovely region. Piedmont hosts several Carnevales but only one is known as the Piedmont Carnival. It is held in the town of Ivrea, population about 25 thousand, located some 28 miles (about 45 kilometers) northeast of the regional capital Turin and (if you were a participant in the Turin Winter Olympics of 2006) only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the French speaking enclave of Val d’Aosta.

The Ivrea Carnevale is unique; its central attraction is a food fight. Every year more than 400 tons of oranges are launched at the participants who of course include the onlookers. But if you don’t mind the occasional bruise you’ll love this Carnevale. Its history goes way back to the Twelfth Century when a newly wed miller’s daughter beheaded an evil count who tried to abuse her. So each year the Piedmont Carnevale is opened by a newly wed who symbolizes that brave young woman of days gone by. She is not alone; she is accompanied and defended by more than one thousand masked townspeople and soldiers.

Then forty decorated horses carry festooned, orange throwing riders through the town piazzas, each defended by rebelling commoners armed with oranges. This is the mother of all food fights. Once upon a time instead of oranges the missiles were beans. It seems the local gentry gave the populace beans and the dissatisfied people threw them back. Maybe they wanted oranges, or simply more respect.

Beans still play a role in this Carnevale. The Piedmont specialty, fagioli grassi, made from beans, sausages, and bacon rind is prepared in industrial quantities and freely distributed. And this food does not go to waste. Be sure to enjoy other great Piedmont dishes such as salam duja (a pork shoulder salami made with Barbera wine), capunet (deep fried cabbage leaves stuffed with beef), Toma cheese, and pastries such as the local bugie, whose ingredients include white wine. Don’t forget to savor these delicacies with Piedmont wine. You don’t have to empty your pockets to find one that’s fairly good. And the sometimes fabulous and always pricey Barolo DOCG is not really meant for Carnevale food.

Piedmont is home to several other Carnevales, none of which feature food fights. Here are some of the additional sites. Castellamonte, can you guess what it’s name means?, is a town of about 10,000 located about 55 miles (35 kilometers) north of Turin. Chivasso is a city of approximately 25,000 situated approximately 12 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of Turin. Domodossola is a city of about 20,000 at the foot of the Italian Alps. During World War II this proud city rose up against the Nazis and their Italian collaborators and was the heart of a short-lived republic.

Calabria is the foot of the Italian boot. This region is in the heart of the Mezzogiorno, the south of Italy. Who would expect to find an Albanian Carnival here? Who would expect to find an African Carnevale here? Keep reading to learn about some of the most distinctive Carnevales in all Europe.

San Demetrio Corone is a village of under four thousand people in Calabria facing the Apennine Mountains and the Ionian Sea. It was founded more than five hundred years ago by Albanians who were fleeing an Ottoman invasion. Despite the centuries the townsfolk have managed to keep their Albanian language and customs while becoming Italians. On the first Saturday of Carnival they celebrate the “Feste dei Morti” in which the poor and children go from house by house collecting alms. Then they march to the local cemetery where food and drink is served surrounded by the gravestones. The food known as “colivi” is made from boiled wheat and was eaten at Paleo-Christian funerals. In the nearby village of Saracena, population about four thousand, named for the Arabs who once ruled this part of the world, the Festa di San Leone (Feast of St. Leon) starts with candlelight procession from the church of that name accompanied by music made with traditional musical instruments. Then comes the “fucarazzi’” (bonfire) at dusk that stays lit all night as the inhabitants and guests enjoy the ritual food and drink.

Another Albanian Carnevale in Calabria are held in the village of Lungro many of whose three thousand some inhabitants speak a dialect of Albanian. The villagers celebrate Carnevale by parading in traditional Albanian costumes. In northern Calabria, the city of Montalto Uffugo (population about seventeen thousand) holds an interesting parade of men wearing women’s dresses. They hand out sweets and tastes of Pollino wine. Following the parade, the kings and queens arrive for a night of dancing wearing costumes that include giant heads. Actually cross dressing is a popular Calabrian Carnevale theme for both men and women as are the ancient Commedia dell’Arte farces in which Carnival is dying, surrounded by busy but hopelessly ineffectual doctors. The funeral is grotesque and ends with a huge bonfire.

The town of Castrovillari, population well over twenty thousand on the northern border of Calabria, holds its Carnival of Pollino in which the women dressed in intricate traditional costumes and both the men and women celebrate the Pollino wine of the region, Lacrima di Castrovillari. But there’s more. This Carnevale now includes a children’s carnival and an International Folklore Festival with Jazz concerts and multiple events devoted to African, Afro-American, and Afro-Brazilian culture. The times they are a’changing.

Friuili-Venezia Giulia is a multilingual region in northeast Italy bordering on the Italian region of Veneto to the west, Austria to the north, and Slovenia to the east. And to the south, the Gulf of Venice. Its capital city, Trieste, officially became part of Italy in 1954, in a sense ending World War II. You may well imagine that with such surroundings, Carnevale in Friuili takes on many multicultural aspects.

Sauris is a village of some four hundred in the Carnic Alps about 80 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Trieste. It has the highest elevation in the area, almost one mile (1400 meters). Unlike most other Italian sites, it gets very cold in Sauris during Carnevale. And yet the locals and guests still manage to enjoy themselves. This is one of the oldest such celebrations in the Alps and the traditions of the past are very present, including the local name Voshankh: Lanterne e Maschere (Voshankh: Lanterns and Masks). Major Carnevale features include the ever-present wooden masks and virtually unique promenades on snow covered paths in the forest in which the participants carry lanterns. This is truly a winter carnival.

One of the two most important Sauris Carnevale figures are “Rolar”, who wields a broom and tells the people that it’s time to prepare for Carnevale. He is always shaking the bells tied around his waist and his hands and face are covered with soot. His partner “Kheirar ” hides his face behind a wooden mask, wears torn clothes, and knocks on doors with his broom and then sweeps the floor. Couples wearing beautiful wooden masks “Scheana schembln” or ugly ones “Schentena schembln” dance to accordion music.

Then at nightfall comes the lantern-lit march to a clearing for a giant bonfire. On the way home everybody stops by the local wood and stone huts known as Stavoli for songs, mulled wine, and culinary specialties. This is a great opportunity to taste the local smoked ham flavored with juniper berries and herbs, Dunkatle (mixed meat stew), and Frico (cheese pasta with browned potatoes and onions).

Trieste, population about two hundred thousand, is 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Venice. One of its suburbs, Muggia, is known for a Carnevale that dates back to 1420. Many consider the Muggia Carnevale to be one of the finest in Italy. It runs for only a week but is able to attract thousands of visitors, and believe me there is a lot of Carnevale competition in this part of the world. Every day is chock full of events, including many directed at children.

Basilicata sits in the south of Italy with a tiny coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west and a somewhat larger one on the Gulf of Taranto to the south. This is one of the least prosperous, most traditional regions of Italy. All the more reason to visit, especially during Carnevale.

The major Basilicata Carnevale is located in the town of Tricarico, population 6 thousand. This festival is traditional. Children and adults parade in costume, cow and bull outfits are always popular. Carnevale starts on Sant’Antonio Abate day named for an Egyptian abbot who is widely honored in southern Italy. Starting at 5 o’clock masked participants rally in Piazza Garibaldi and then proceed to the Sant’Antonio Abate church. By the way, we’re talking about 5 in the morning, not 5 in the afternoon. This day is fully packed with activities for people of all ages. There is even a midnight celebration that I am told goes until the wee hours of the morning.

Then things are quiet for a few weeks, interrupted by an olive festival with tasty food and later on the Festival of “skrpedd and r’a sauzezz” (festival of the pancake and sausage) in the old town accompanied by local wine and music. Just so you know, Basilicata’s finest wine is Aglianico de Vulture DOC, but you may enjoy many of the lesser-known local wines.

The Tricarico Carnevale continues on the following Sunday, starting at 9 in the morning. Once again the focus is on the herd. You’ll be busy all day. After the parade of allegorical floats there’s a trial and Carnevale is sentenced and killed. The evening ends with a folk music concert and fireworks.

Basilicata is home to many other Carnevales. The village of Rapone, population 1200, celebrates with traditional singing and dancing. Spectators offer sausage and wine to the performers. On Shrove Tuesday everyone eats homemade pasta (orecchiette, fusilli, and cavatelli) flavored with a special sauce. The village of Cirigliano, population 450, Carnevale’s highlight is the final Sunday. Twelve traditionally dressed people represent the months of the year. What they wear and what they carry evoke the months’ climatic conditions. Four other young men typify the seasons. On the final Carnevale Sunday the village of Aliano, population 1300, hosts the Frase, a play freely commenting on local events and personalities of the preceding year. The young actors wear bells, animal harnesses, and a “horn mask” made from papier mache, clay, and rooster feathers to symbolize diabolical forces. And don’t miss the traditional activity in which local men festooned in papier mache masks, hats covered with streamers, wearing long underwear and cow bells, parade down the village main street, throw flour at the crowds and grunt all the while.

A major Italian Carnevale takes place in the town of Putignano, population 30 thousand, on the Adriatic Sea some twenty-five miles (forty kilometers) southeast of Bari, the regional capital. The first records describing this Carnevale date back to December, 1394 making it arguably the oldest Carnival in the world. Since Apulia was heavily influenced by the Greeks, it should be no surprise that the Putignano Carnevale was dedicated to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. As elsewhere during Carnevale social norms were stood on their head. Celebrations traditionally begun on December 26 when the peasants carried wax to church to beg pardon for the sins to be committed. That night at a feast actors recited a poem running through the year’s majors events and local celebrities. The Putignano Carnivale was the longest Carnival in the world.

A major aspect of the Putignano Carnevale is known as Propaggini, transporting St. Stefan Protomartyre’s Holy Relics from the nearby Monopoli Castle to Putignano, accompanied by a parade of masked farmers dancing, singing and reciting poems. Now the parade is accompanies by huge, papier-mache floats. It helps if you are aware of local and national politicians and other personalities but even if you can’t name Italy’s prime minister (Sylvio Berlusconi at the time of this writing) or major rock singers, you’ll be sure to enjoy the procession and even identify some of the targets of popular cynicism.

The central character of this Carnevale goes by the name of Farinella, a word associated with a popular local dish made from barley and chickpeas. Farinella is a jester wearing bright clothes and a two peaked hat with little bells. He resembles Harlequin, the central figure of the Venice Carnevale. Locals will tell you which mascot they prefer.

The Dauno Carnival takes place in the coastal city of Manfredonia, population 100 thousand. The central activity is the parade with the usual (or should we say unusual?) accompaniment of satirical masks and floats on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. Other events including literary, painting, and photography contests, dancing, satirical floats and the burial of Ze’ Peppe, the Carnevale mascot. The first Sunday there’s a unique UNICEF sponsored Parade of Wonders in which thousands of elementary and secondary school children participate. Scholars refer to local Carnevale celebrations dating back to the Sixth or Seventh Century B.C.

The fishing port of town of Gallipoli whose old town lies on an island in heel of Italian boot was the site of a horrific World War I battle in which an estimated 130 thousand killed and twice that many wounded. Its Carnevale originated in Roman pagan festivals. The first event takes place on January 17, Saint Antony’s day with Focaredda, when the people dance around a huge bonfire. The masks and the traditional cakes appear. Carnevale terminates on Mardi Gras with the usual procession of satirical floats but the local focus is on “lu Titoru” a puppet representing young soldier, returning home who dies from overeating, mostly meat balls. The mourners traditionally include children dressed as women.

The Latium region of central Italy (also called Lazio) is home to several Carnevale including those at Frascati, Ronciglione, and of course in the regional capital, Rome. Frascati is a town of about twenty thousand, located about twenty kilometers (about twelve miles) southeast of Rome in the Alban hills. It is known for international science laboratories and sometimes, but not always, its wines. Frascati’s Carnival is quite unusual, it ends with the burning at the stake of Pulcinella (also known as Punch or Punchinello). There is even a traditional poem devoted to “His Majesty the Carnival”.

HISTORYCAL CARNIVAL:
Every year it ends up badly:
he gets burned,
he is tossed in a gorge,
he is tried and condemned to death after a strange public ritual,
he drowns in the sea,
he undergoes a funny vivisection,
he is buried,
he is cast out,
eventually he is abandoned in a balloon in the sky.

Ronciglione is situated about sixty kilometers (forty miles) north of Rome in the Cimini mountains. It is home to fewer than ten thousand people. The Ronciglione Carnevale is based on the Roman Renaissance Baroque Carnival. After the “Big Bell” is rung, the keys to the city (town) are presented to King Carnival. Then come the Barbary races, the “Saltarello”(jumping dance), the allegorical floats, and sadly the ritual of the Carnival’s death with the final “Moccolata,” a jumping dance.

Then it’s on to Rome, almost in the center of Latium, not far from the center of Italy, and according to many, the center of the world. Roma has a long Carnival tradition. In fact, during the Renaissance the Roman Carnival was even famous in all Europe than the Venetian one. Alexandre Dumas entitled Chapter 36 of his famous book, “The Count of Monte Cristo” the Carnival at Rome. But over the centuries Roman authorities came to abandon the city celebrations.

Happily, Carnevale has returned to Rome, the city hosts more than thirty events which are located all over Rome. Activities include circus horses that jump through flames, masquerades, fireworks, open-air theaters, folklore dances and parades with floats that keep Rome humming for about eight days. Don’t miss out on the “castagnole,” traditional Carnival cakes. There are activities for all ages. You’ll get a chance to tour the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne and Palazzo Sfroza Cesarini (both located on Corso Vittorio Emanuele) that present dance and music performances and offer costumed tour guides. One of the highlights comes on Sunday afternoon (check the events calendar), an equestrian show in the Piazza del Popolo that showcases Cossack riding purebred Berber horses. And you’ll see “horseball”, a kind of basketball played on horseback.

Acireale, a city of about 50 thousand, is about fifty miles (eighty kilometers) north of Siracusa on the eastern coastline facing the Ionian Sea. This coast is called the Riviera dei Cilopi; according to Homer’s Odyssey it was created when the blinded Cyclops Polyphemus flung boulders at the retreating Ulysses, creating spectacular rock pillars known as faraglioni. This great site hosts what is widely regarded as Sicily’s finest Carnevale, one of the few that can compete with Venice’s world-class offering.

Carnivale is thought to originate in the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, honoring the god Saturn in the hope of a rich harvest. Masked revelers, often drunk, feasted, partied, and paraded with allegorical floats through the town. Similar festivals were held in ancient Greece to honor Dionysus, the god of wine. However, the word Carnevale itself is said to come from Carnem levare, which means take away the meat, referring to the 40 days of Lent in which the faithful would eat no meat.

Allegorical floats have been a major component of Carnevale for hundreds of years. They first appeared in Sicily more than four hundred years ago. But they only came to Acireale around 1880. And this Carnevale has been making up for lost time ever since. As elsewhere, papier mache is a major component of the floats. Satirical masks are also featured. Even if you can’t tell who is being mocked out, you will enjoy them. Of course, in many cases you won’t have any trouble identifying the “victim”. Talking about victims, Carnevale onlookers were once pelted with eggs and other projectiles. Today they are more likely to be hit with confetti or sprayed with aerosols.

In 2010 the Acireale Carnevale will start on Saturday, January 30th and run until Tuesday, February 16th, Mardi Gras. There are many events for children such as Bambini in Maschera, a children’s costume competition. At first events are held on the weekends only but starting on Thursday, February 11th there is at least one daytime and one evening event daily. After an awards ceremony Carnevale terminates with fireworks and the burning of King Carnival.

Acireale is not the only city in Sicily to host Carnevale. Other manifestations occur in Palermo, the coastal capital situated on the northern coast whose Carnevale introduced papier mache floats to Sicily in the town of Sciacca on the southwestern coast whose Carnevale is known for its bizarre floats, in Termini Imerese on the northern coast, and in Palazzolo Acreide west of Siracusa. Why not visit several and compare?