As Italians, we are famous all around the world for our joie de vivre and our festive spirit.
One perfect expression of this party’s nature, in Italy is the Carnevale, known abroad as Carnival or Mardi Gras, that takes place in the weeks leading up to Easter (typically in February) just before the Ash Wednesday, with its consequent restrictions of the Lent and the observances related to Easter.
Origins of Carnevale are attributable to pagan festivals that during the centuries have had the chance to be included also into the Catholic rituals.
Actually, Carnevale is a single date, called Martedì Grasso or Fat Tuesday that is the day before Ash Wednesday. However, in Italy, like elsewhere, the celebrations and parties often begin a couple of weeks before and in particular, the weekend before Fat Tuesday is usually the most popular for events and parties related to this tradition.
Italy hosts since years some of the most famous Carnival Celebrations in the World: think about Venice’s Carnival, the Carnevale d’Europa of Cento the Viareggio Carnival.
However all over the Italian country, the period of Carnevale is full of traditional Celebrations, marked by parades, masks, and streamers and confetti throw out by the children, all over! (In certain villages, you can even have to dodge flour and raw eggs!).
As usual, I like to find something uncommon…, and speaking about Carnival,I want to tell you about the Carnival Festival of Comacchio, in my opinion one of the most scenographic and suggestive (even is not yet so well-known by the foreign tourists).
Comacchio is a small village located on the Delta of Po’s River, in the Region of Emilia Romagna, around 50 km far from Ferrara and around 40 km from Ravenna.
The Carnival of Comacchio was born only in 2012, so is pretty new, compared to the other festivals. Thanks to the shape and the architecture of the small Village of Comacchio, the Carnival event takes place mainly along its canals, so much that the event is now known as the Comacchio Water Carnival.
The carnival floats here are set up on the traditional boats of the canals, called Batana in the local dialect, that are completely transformed into real allegorical boats.
The small boats, transfigured by papier-mâché and pelouches, parade placidly on the waters of the lagoon, each telling their theme, under the amused gazes of the crowd thronging on the quays. Every year the imagination of the local artisans, who work hard to decorate the boats, truly amazes the audience of the participants.
The uniqueness of the Comacchio Carnival is due to the mixture of imaginative magic of the town, with the creativity of all the people involved into the organization of the festival that identify the true soul of the event.
The Carnival in Comacchio takes place usually for 2 or 3 Sundays before the Mardi Gras.
The “party” begins on Sunday morning with masks parades and here the real protagonists of the festival are the children that can experience the soul of the carnival with animations, entertainment, workshops and embark on a boat for a mini adventure in the company of characters from the world of fairy tales.
In the Afternoon, the heart of the event comes to life, with the Parade of Allegoric Boats along the canals.
A jury made up of different local personalities, each year proclaims the winners of the Carnival on Water. The trophy is crafted each year with skill and originality by the local artists of Comacchio and is called The “Forcola; it consists of a wooden tool, symbol of lagoon navigation, used as a lever that allows driving in shallow waters that identifies the symbol of the Carnival on the Water.
Participating to the Carnival on Water is also an opportunity to delight the palate with the typical dishes of the Comacchio culinary tradition: one above all is the marinated Eel.
If you are planning to visit Italy during Carnival’s time you Can’t miss the one of Comacchio! You can find here all the info: https://www.carnevalecomacchio.it/
In addition, remember… “A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale,” which means, “anything goes at Carnevale”
…so prepare yourself and don’t be too serious! 🙂
