The Carnival

The longest festival of the year

The Carnival of Ivrea runs for over a month, from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. During its days the people of Ivrea become masters of the city, gathering around the festival’s leads — theMugnaia and the General — up to its most spectacular moment: the Battle of the Oranges.

Violetta and the revolt

Ivrea’s spirit of freedom dates back to 1194. The story goes that the tyrant, Count Ranieri di Biandrate, claimed the ius primae noctis over the brides of the town. It fell toVioletta, a miller’s daughter: but she rebelled, beheaded the tyrant with a dagger hidden under her wedding gown and showed his head to the people below the Castellazzo. The Mugnaia thus sparked the uprising that razed the castle.

The festival as we know it took shape in the early 1800s, under Napoleonic rule, which unified the separate district carnivals: one citizen was allowed to play the General, and everyone had to wear the Phrygian cap — symbol of the French Revolution and of those who, in the square, must not be hit.

From beans to oranges

The throwing of oranges goes back to the mid-1800s. Earlier still, in the Middle Ages, the weapons were beans: twice a year the feudal lord gave a pot of them to poor families, who threw them into the streets in scorn. Turned into playful missiles at Carnival time, they later gave way to oranges.

Since the post-war years the battle has taken on today’s meaning: in the old-town squares thecart crews — the tyrant’s guards — face the on-foot squads, the rebel townsfolk, hundreds of throwers on each side. It is the high point of that fight for freedom the Carnival stages.