Little-known historical carnivals of Italy, beyond Venice and Viareggio

When people talk about carnival in Italy, the mind runs to the floats of Viareggio and the masks of Venice. And yet the little-known historical carnivals of Italy tell of something more ancient: peasant and pastoral rites, masks carved in wood, processions of fire. They are feasts still held up by the community, not by the price of admission, and they take place almost all between January and March, in the months when the villages turn quiet again. Here are five occasions to experience on foot, with the right towns to use as a base.

Sauris

**Sauris (Friuli), the carnival of the German island.** At Sauris, a German-speaking community wedged into the Carnia, the "Zahrar Voschankh" revolves around two figures: the Rölar, his face blackened with soot and cowbells at his belt, and the Kheirar, the "king" who knocks on doors with a stable broom to sweep away winter. The masks are carved by hand in Swiss-pine wood, divided into "beautiful" and "ugly." The finest moment is the Night of the Lanterns, a walk through the woods from Sauris di Sopra to Sauris di Sotto that ends with bonfires, mulled wine and fritters. Sleep in the village itself; to widen the loop in the area, Venzone, rebuilt stone by stone after the earthquake, and the abbey of Sesto al Reghena on the Friulian plain are both worth a stop.

**Aliano (Basilicata), the horned masks.** Among the badlands of the Val d'Agri, Aliano celebrates a carnival that Carlo Levi described in "Christ Stopped at Eboli." The masks are modelled in clay and papier-mâché, with pronounced horns and enormous, dangling noses: apotropaic creatures, built each year by the village artisans and impossible to find anywhere else. The parade winds along Via Roma on the Sunday and Shrove Tuesday, amid accordions and cupa-cupa, with the dialect satire of the "Fras." Aliano is the gateway to the Lucanian badlands: from here you easily reach Craco, the abandoned town on the clay, and Castelmezzano, wedged among the spires of the Lucanian Dolomites.

Also in Basilicata, a short distance away, two other rites of the same network are worth knowing: at Satriano di Lucania the Rumita parades, the tree-man covered in ivy who wanders in silence knocking on doors with a sprig of butcher's broom; at Tricarico, on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the masks of "Cows and Bulls" re-enact the transhumance, crossing the Rabatana and Saracena districts. To recapture that Saracen atmosphere you can climb up to Tursi, which guards its own Rabatana clinging to the badlands.

Tufara

**Tufara (Molise), the Devil.** On Shrove Tuesday the little town in the province of Campobasso transforms for the "Devil of Tufara": a man covered in seven goat skins, a red-and-black leather mask, a trident in hand, held back with difficulty by the chains of the Folletti dressed in black. He is accompanied by Death, dressed in white and dusted with flour, a symbol of purification and rebirth. The procession reaches the Longobard castle, where the effigy of Carnival is tried, condemned and cast from the walls. As a base nearby, choose Civitacampomarano, the Molise village reborn thanks to street art.

Offida

**Offida (Marche), Lu Bov Fint and the Vlurd.** In the Piceno, Offida celebrates from 17 January (Saint Anthony the Abbot) until Ash Wednesday a carnival documented since 1524. No floats: only collective rites. On the last Friday, "Lu Bov Fint" runs wild, a papier-mâché ox that races through the alleys chased by the crowd in white smocks, a sort of village bullfight. On Tuesday evening the Vlurd arrive, bundles of reeds stuffed with straw and set alight: hundreds of people form a serpent of fire all the way to Piazza del Popolo, where everything converges in a great final bonfire.

The Alpine valleys

**Alpine Lombardy and Ivrea, between violins and oranges.** In the Lombard valleys two rare carnivals survive. At Schignano, on Lake Como, the Bei (elegant) and the Brut (ragged) parade with masks carved in walnut; at Bagolino, in the Brescia area, the Balarì dance masked with ivory faces to the music of violins and three-stringed double basses, a repertoire of twenty-four eighteenth-century dances. Further west, the famous Battle of the Oranges of Ivrea remains among the most visceral rites of the North. For the Piedmont-Aosta Valley area, base yourself at Bard, in the shadow of the fort, or at Garessio, between the Ligurian Alps and the Langhe.

The thread that binds these feasts is the same: to drive out winter and call in the spring. Go in comfortable shoes, respect the silence of the Rumita and of those who knock on doors, and remember that many rites are held between the Sunday and Shrove Tuesday. Always verify the dates for the year: the carnival calendar changes, but the rite endures.

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