In 1873 a young company decided to organise a procession of masks for the last day of carnival in the Regia Street in Viareggio. In
the next years the show was improved, and in
1883 the procession of masks included mobile figures on floats.
Horses and oxes pulled the floats, and the masks were made by chalk,
wood, and canary – grass and covered with pieces
of coloured fabric. After
1900, Viareggio presented the procession in
liberty style and it obtained a tremendous success.
From
1915 to 1920 the floats didn’t parade; in 1921 the procession of
floats started again to parade and a city committee decided it was the
moment to parade the float on the avenues along the beach, with more and
more people who took part of it for its folk and impressive atmosphere. The
masks since 1923 have been made by papier mâché and the pictures were
bigger and nimbler; some old people remember again the beautiful
“Pierrot” describing him
majestic and wonderful. In
1930 Burlamacco, the official mask of the carnival in Viareggio,
was born, it was created
by Umberto Bonetti, who was magisterial interpreter of the posters of
carnival.
Today people start building the masks in summer to be ready for the procession which parades in February. Infact they are wonderful, huge and rich with beautiful decorations. They represent politicians, VIP, singers, footballers, animals and there are also people and floats coming from different town and cities. This was the carnival program for this year: FEBRUARY 20th 1st
PROCESSION OF MASKS “Carnival is fantasy” FEBRUARY 27TH 2ND
PROCESSION OF MASKS “All the world together to celebrate Carnival” MARCH 5TH 3RD
PROCESSION OF MASKS “Carnival 2000” MARCH 7TH 4TH
NIGHT PROCESSION OF MASKS “A blaze of lights, colours, masks, and music. A breath – taking firework display”. Do you have a feast like our Carnival? What do you do in that occasion? Is it popular among the young? Emanuela
De Lazzari; Valeria Chiaromonte; Mara Pasquinelli
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Burlamacco,
dressed with patches, the symbol of Italian masks, was named from the
homonymous canal, which represents the story of Viareggio.