CARNIVAL? YES, WITH BATTLE OF THE ORANGES!

I say “Carnival” and you immediately think about masquerade, costumes, dancing... Well, in Italy, it doesn’t mean just this.
It means also fight, black eyes, broken noses…
What am I talking about? … about the “Battle of the Oranges” from the Carnival of Ivrea, in the nothern Italy!

It’s a traditional Festival in which people throw of oranges between 9 organized groups. It is the largest food fight and one of the oldest event in Italy.
This battle reevokes the civil war that broke out in the 12-Century between the inhabitants of Ivrea and the Royal Napoleonic Troops the day after the murder of the hated tyrant of the city. He was killed by a young girl, “la Mugnaia” (miller's daughter), who became an heroine.

So The battle is made up of squads of “aranceri” , orange throwers on foot , representing the common peolple, and those in carts representing the Napoleonic troops.
There are more than 6000 orange throwers and more than 50 carts, trained by horses.

The battle takes about 2 hours, but there are 3 days of festival, parades and reenactment with historical costumes.
Battle of the Oranges fills the city with fantastic colors and perfumes. Would you like to be a part of all this? :)

Elisa