We arrived in Viareggio hours before the parade began, which gave us plenty of time to have a good look at the floats before they started moving around town. Once the parade begins there are thousands of people crowding the streets.
If this event happened in Australia the floats would be carefully separated from the audience by ropes and guards to keep people at a safe distance….not in Viareggio….people walk in front of, under and around the floats while they are moving. Keep in mind that these things are huge, some the size of a 3 story building, with lots of moving parts. Nobody seems to get hurt and everyone has a great time, without any evidence of alcohol. It is all very good natured and other countries could learn a lot here.
One of the first floats we saw was this amazing jazz band, whose name suggests they are a bit tired of austerity. I was most impressed with the horn player’s eyelashes.
The next enormous float was a horned and bearded warrior with a crumbling building behind him, accompanied by a choir.
The 3 monkeys… speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil.
Politicians getting their snouts in the trough…in the form of a table in the shape of Italy.
A very colourful volcano.
A rather menacing clown…the characters in front of the clown were swaying on very long poles.
The lovely lady below is cleaning out the cobwebs.
Here are a few random floats that went past me in a blur.
The next float was my favourite…the marriage of 2 dried figs.
Now for the people I managed to get to stand still long enough to capture them on film.
I wish that I could convey the madness that is Carnevale. I have been covered in foam and confetti and jostled by a very friendly crowd…I’ll be back next year for more.
For some faces from Carnevale last year click here.