February is Carnival Month

Carnevale or Carnival is celebrated all over Italy this month. The word 'Carnevale' derives from carnem levare, literally, "remove the meat" in Latin. Carnival officially starts in mid-January and ends on the day before Ash Wednesday. On the first day of Lent-the 40 days of abstinence during which Christians were once forbidden from eating meat. Carnevale is a pagan holiday of medieval origin dating back to ancient winter rites when disguises and laughter were used to chase away the evil spirits of winter-a welcoming of spring with a solistice that ends the winter season.
During the first week of celebrations adults go to veglioni (late night parties), often wearing costumes and masks while children wear disguises to school and around the piazzas feeding on the candies stuffed in their pockets. Carnevale pastries (thin dough strips fried and dusted with powdered sugar) called fritelle, tortelli or chiacchiere fill the shops. Celebrations reach a crescendo of parties and parades on the final day, Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday) when a symbol of the carnival itself is burned on a bonfire with many regional variations on this theme. Local traditions often play a major role in the way carnival is celebrated, giving the festivities unique flavor in many cities and towns. The duration of the festivities varies from locality to locality but it usually lasts a week to ten days from beginning to end. Everything remains open and the country takes on a festive, party spirit.

Carnivale in Venice

Ten days of wild, street-raging fun as an almost never-ending feat of people parade the venetian scene with jugglers, mimes, fire-eaters, acrobats, street actors and over 500,000 curious visitors. A sequence of cultural events occurs during the most famous Carnival in Italy. The drowning town is literally transformed into a colorful stage full of living masks and costumes.
It all begins with the Children's Carnival in Piazza San Marco, the main square. Masked balls and music shows follow (information on what and where is readily available to visitors). On Saturday there is the famous masked 'vogata' on the Grand Canal, followed by a popular street party in the 'Canaregio' district where there is usually a masked ball. Although it is a common concept that the famous Venetian masquerade balls are impenetrable. On Sunday, anticipation builds all morning in San Marco Square while residents and visitors pack the piazza awaiting the symbolic release of a dove and applause erupts spontaneously upon its departure (the dove is actually mechanical and follows a wire to simulate flight while dropping confetti over the crowds). On Shrove Tuesday, at midnight, the local Commedia caricature with mask 'Pantalon' is burned after the final dance ball. The spirit of Carnival is everywhere and ever-present during this period. From early morning to late evening there are couples and groups of elaborately costumed characters that slowly walk and pose for photographers.
The creativity and expense that these people spare is none in order to be originally costumed, elaborate, convincing and elegant. The masquerading peoples are literally possessed by their costumes as they slowly float to and fro. Venice becomes a city bewitched during this magical and mysterious period.

Saint Faustino's Day

This forlorn saint has been attributed a special day by single people in Italy to commemorate him as the patron saint of those whose lives are devoid of a lover. San Faustino has been designated the day after Valentine's Day-Feburary 15th. The National Association of Single Italians (ANIS), which is based in Grosetto Tuscany and boasts 2,300 members highlights celebrations of the often overlooked saint. He himself did not do much to encourage single living. This patron saint of the city of Brescia spent most of his 15th century existence fighting bloody battles against the city's enemies, and there is no evidence that he consoled heartbroken friends by telling them that relationships are more trouble than they are worth. In fact his only link to single living is that his day falls on February 15th, the day after Valentine's Day. At least when you see photocopied invitations to parties in the name of Saint Faustino posted in the piazzas you'll understand what lurks in the meaning...

Rome Independent Film Festival

The Rome Independent Film Festival (RIFF) is Rome's first independent and international film festival. For six full days and nights, the RIFF celebrates new European and international independent films from more than 25 countries. In order to encourage and assist filmmakers in their endeavors, the festival concludes with an awards ceremony, The RIFF Awards, which awards prizes of either monetary value or money in-kind. The festival will be playing at Cinema Pasquine and runs from February 24-29. For more information visit, www.riff.it

Carnevale di Fano

The show by Dario Fo, world renowned performer, writer, director of Italian theatre and nobel prize in literature winner is one of a 3 pageant event at this carnival.www.carnevaledifano.com
Not many know about this street festival heralded as a gem, Carnevale di Fano is one of the most antique carnivals in Italy. According to legend the festival came together with the reconciliation of the two most famous and well-established families of medieval Europe at the time, families Del Cassero and Da Carignano.
The first written assertion related to the carnival were found in 1347. Dario Fo dazzles Italians, once again, with his itinerary for 'il Spettacolo', spectacle, which is a prominent part of the event. This year's edition takes from the structure of three days with his show as a central focus of the carnival. The central character is 'il Pupo', the puppet. A caricature created by Dario Fo. A youthful character that becomes the enriched symbol of infancy and innocence that has to traverse fantastical situations. The piece is an array of exposure between representation, fable, and literature. This carnival is dedicated to children-an event inherently unique where the city is transformed into a large scene to depict and represent various seasons. It is a pageant, both comical and satirical that comprises this solitary festival.
With a cast of 150 people comprised of actors, musicians, singers, puppets, dancers, acrobats, jugglers and children who offer spirit and refreshment representation. The spectacle takes the ideas, mosse and revisits antique, classic, sacred and the profane; it recuperates and reapropriates to the public the significance and the value that Carnevale di Fano had originally maintained in medieval times. The project seeks to depict a world turned upside down and regurgitate it by giving voice to the theatre and presenting a manifestation that recuperates the sense of festivity, of participation, of popular ritual and one that finds its origins in Dionysian festival that persist in the figures of buffoons, falstaffs and most importantly through the voices of children as the carnival is dedicated to them. A symbolic gest, that of the ghetto, that in its time it has become transformed and become a true battle between spectators and presenters where chocolates are thrown to the performers.

Publication Date: 2004-02-15
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3641