Carnival of Viareggio - Carnevale di Viareggio

Festival Location: Viareggio, Italy

Festival Type(s): Carnivals, Street Parades, Parties

by © Paul Dodson 2009

Italy's carnival of Viareggio (carnevale di Vireggio) has been building on it's rep as one of Europe's finest street parades since it's troubled beginnings as a higher tax protest in 1873. It was the bourgeois then, the wealthy middle-class men of Viareggio that orchestrated a parade of floats adorned with flowers to mark their refusal to pay higher taxes (at this point it would be fair to argue that building floral-laden floats ain't the best way to show your inability to split with your hard-earned lire). Anyway, later masks were added so these naughty little law-breakers could disguise themselves, and from there the Viareggio Carnival as we know it, grew.

Today the Carnival parade is held along Viareggio Avenue where a crowd 800,000 strong attend to witness the wonderful paper-mache floats and masks depicting caricatures of popular celebrities, such as politicians, media darlings and sportsmen and women.

In conjunction with il carnevale in 1949 a youth football tournament was first held - Torneo di Viareggio (Coppa Carnevale) - and continues today as one of the nation's most-loved and important sporting events.

I mean, who really needs a reason to visit Tuscany, but if you're scratching around for one then you could do worse than the Carnival of Viareggio each February.