One of the great things about Italian Carnevale is the tremendous variety of celebrations. These annual manifestations are not carbon copies of one another. The Lombardy region of northern Italy is an excellent example. Let's start at the village of Schignano, population less than one thousand, situated about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Milan above Lake Como on the Swiss border. The big days are Mardi Gras and the preceding Saturday. Carnevale revolves around two sets of central characters, the 'Belli' and the 'Brutti', Beauty and the Beast or more precisely, the Beauties and the Beasts. The Beauties are refined, jewel-bedecked women with big flowery hats wearing a wooden mask. The Beasts get ready for Carnevale by going into animal sheds and dressing in sheepskins and ox horns. They carry a sack and vibrantly ring cowbells before dropping to the ground as if they were dead.
This is only the beginning. It seems that the Belli are attached by ropes to their husbands who, as in the olden days, tell them to go home and look after the kids. A beauty named Ciocia rebels and tells her husband just where to go. Then comes the costume ball in which the Belli and Brutti reunite. But all is not well, sadly a puppet, who represents the carnival starts to die. After several fruitless attempts to revive him, he is thrown on the fire. He gets up and runs away. The bad guys catch the puppet and throw him right back onto the funeral pyre. And this time he burns. Until next year.
Pescarolo is a small town of some fifteen hundred people located some fifty-five miles (ninety kilometers) southeast of Milan. They too do Carnevale differently from most others. Like Schignano, fire plays a major part in their celebrations. The townsfolk chop down a massive oak tree, which is festooned with umbrellas and then set up in the main square. Then comes the stack of hay and straw surrounding the trunk. The pile is set on fire and, according to tradition, Pescarolo the tree is untouched by the flames and is returned to its owner.
Milan, the capital of Lombardy, also hosts an unusual Carnevale. Catholics here tend to follow the Ambrosian rite which means that instead of ending on Mardi Gras, their celebrations continue until the following Saturday. So nothing is stopping you from enjoying the Schignano and Pescarolo festivities and then heading to the fashion capital of Europe (the other one besides Paris) and checking out Milan's Carnevale.
Author Resource:-
Levi Reiss authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but would rather drink fine French, German, or other wine, paired with the right foods. He loves teaching computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his Italian travel, wine, and food website www.travelitalytravel.com and his wine, diet, health, and nutrition website www.wineinyourdiet.com.
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