L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS vals such as Saturnalia, with their relaxed norms and public joking, are often men- tioned in this context. Surely, it would be misleading to claim a direct, uninterrupted l i n e f r o m A n t i q u i t y t o Medieval carnival, yet the resemblance is still instruc- tive because, in both cases, hierarchy is briefly destabi- l i z e d , n o t a b o l i s h e d . T h e point is to acknowledge ten- sions and limits, not to over- throw the system that pro- duces them. In Italy, that broad ratio- nale became very much local, and Carnevale didn't settle i n t o o n e n a t i o n a l f o r m . Italy's city-centered culture, w i t h i t s s t r o n g m u n i c i p a l identities, its rivalries, and its neighborhood pride, gave carnival a place to root itself and mutate. What you see in Venice is not what you see in V i a r e g g i o , a n d n e i t h e r resembles Ivrea; yet each of t h e s e p l a c e s , i n d i f f e r e n t w a y s , p r e s e r v e s a n o l d e r idea: public space becomes a stage where the communi- ty tells the truth by exag- gerating it. V e n i c e i s t h e m o s t famous case, and also the most disciplined. In a place where social order depended on reputation, surveillance, and careful management of class and gender behavior, a mask had power because it let a person move through the city without the usual s o c i a l s i g n a l s a t t a c h e d t o them. Historical sources and later scholarship note how long the "mask season" could extend – well beyond a sin- gle week of partying – and h o w f r e q u e n t l y t h e s t a t e intervened when disguise became a cover for intimida- t i o n o r v i c e . B y t h e e i g h - teenth century, the wearing of masks in daily life was increasingly restricted, pre- c i s e l y b e c a u s e a n o n y m i t y could be too effective. By contrast, Viareggio, whose tradition dates back to 1873, turns its energy out- ward, toward performance and commentary, with an identity built entirely on the satirical float, towering papier-mâché constructions that take the anxieties of the y e a r – f r o m p o l i t i c s t o celebrities, from scandals to social fears – and transform them into caricature. Here in Versilia, satire is the point o f i t a l l , a n d c r i t i c i s m becomes collective, visible, and, of course, time-limited. Ivrea takes a different route again: it keeps conflict at street level and makes the body do the work with its Battle of the Oranges . Often described as simple chaos, in truth, the event runs on a strict internal grammar, where organized teams fight in designated spaces; some participants are on foot, others on carts; a n d t h e s t o r y t o l d b y t h e choreography is always the s a m e , e v e n w h e n n o b o d y agrees on the history. The popular legend centers on a miller's daughter, Violetta, who rebels against a local t y r a n t , s p a r k i n g a c i v i c uprising. Historically, the ritual changed over time, especially in the 19 th centu- ry, and even the "weapon" evolved: traditions note ear- lier throwing of beans and a p p l e s b e f o r e o r a n g e s became the emblem, import- ed in huge quantities from Southern Italy because they do not, quite obviously, grow in the Alps. Put side by side, these his- torical Carnevali show what's easy to miss when you talk about carnival only in gener- al terms. In Venice, the key mechanism is anonymity, calibrated against a state that feared it. In Viareggio, it's satire made monumental, m o c k e r y a s c i v i c a r t . I n Ivrea, it's controlled aggres- sion turned into identity, repeated until it becomes t r a d i t i o n . T h e i m m e d i a t e forms may differ, but each produces the same result: it c r e a t e s a p u b l i c i n t e r v a l where everyday limitations and rules loosen without dis- appearing altogether. That's really the best way t o s p e a k a b o u t C a r n e v a l e today because modern Italy no longer needs a festival to discover irreverence; the old "world turned upside down" is not the daily reality it once was, because the world itself is less formally stratified, a n d b e c a u s e c o n f l i c t a n d criticism already circulate constantly. What Carnevale still offers is something more specific, and arguably rarer: a shared public frame for exaggeration, which is visi- b l e , l o c a l , e m b o d i e d , a n d time-limited. For a few days, the streets make room for performance, parody, and t h e p l e a s u r e o f n o t b e i n g fully legible. Then the masks c o m e o f f , t h e p i a z z a s a r e cleaned, and ordinary life resumes, intact and identical to itself, but briefly inter- rupted in a way that reminds people what rules feel like when you step just slightly outside them. In Italy, Carnevale didn't settle into one national form. The country's city-centered cultu- re, with its strong municipal identities, its rivalries, and its neighborhood pride, gave car- nival a place to root itself and mutate CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 The ancient Romans also had a period similar to Carnevale, the Saturnalia (Image created with Dall-E2) During the Battle of the Oranges, participants are divided into historical groups (Photo: Niccolo Bertoldi/Dreamstime)

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