Carnevale di Viareggio

So recovery time after Barcelona was cut short as our program took a trip to Viareggio, a small town in Tuscany on the coast of the Mediterranean. This past Sunday they hosted their famous Carnevale in honor of Mardi Gras approaching.

I was not sure what to expect from this event and I was definitely (gladly) surprised by what the day entailed. This Carnevale and parade is not like anything you would ever see in America. The beginning of the day included walks along the beach and getting food and drinks along the beach side of the town. We were blessed with amazing weather too, which definitely helped make the day as fun as it was.


This day can be somewhat compared to the US Halloween. Aka, people in costumes everywhere. However, while kids are dressed in cute animal costumes, most of the older people are dressed in the most BIZARRE costumes ever...I am not going to even try and explain what some of these people were wearing...

As the beginning of the parade approached, we entered the parade circuit. Unlike in the states, people aren't setting up chairs along sidewalks with blocked off roads. Instead, people are running around and dancing and jumping in with the parade walkers and floats. Definitely a lot more free and fun than US parades.

Now, these floats also put the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to shame. These building sized floats are all completely handmade and mostly out of papermache. They also all have very deep meanings. Whether it deals with something in Italy, a town, or all of Europe, the floats usually have deep political meanings to them. They are also very provocative, especially considering how many children under the age of 10 attend this event (provocative as in naked floats and dancing sperm everywhere...)


Despite the naked floats and people dressed as sperm, the floats drive by blasting fun music for everyone around. Confetti and candy is thrown every where and it is truly a good time. Between the parade, the beach, the mountains, the whether and the atmosphere, the Carnevale was an amazing day and helped me realize that I am actually living in Italy for a semester.