Sunday, March 6, 2011

Buon Giorno!

 Today was the last day of the Carnevale, and by far the biggest celebration. 
There were archers in most of the piazzas


In the main piazza, Piazza del Popolo, there were all kinds of stalls and carts set up selling medieval wares, people of all ages dressed in medieval clothing (from a varlets to knights to noblewomen to bishops), archery competitions, and even some falconers. There was an arena where two knights fought with swords and drummers drummed to the beat of marching orcs (according to Trey).


We forgot to mention the falconers!

The falcon display included free flight to neighboring balconies.  It was spectacular to see these large birds soaring just above our heads!
The jugglers on stilts were my favorite, as they pretended to fall on the bystanders. There was one guy, on stilts, that was making balloons all different into shapes and animals. Most of the kids were crowded around him. The other men on stilts were juggling in medieval clothes.  



There was confetti scattered all over the pavement.  People bought bags of it to throw at each other and everyone seemed to like it.  We didn’t hesitate to start a confetti fight. We scooped up the confetti other people had thrown and threw it into the air. It looked like colorful snow when it was tossed into the sky and came down as the gravity pulled it. I still have confetti in my hair because everyone thought it was a great idea to dump it on my head. At least I’m not the only one.
A would-be bishop
A very funny camel (?)
The piazza was the perfect setting for the Medieval theme
















There was a parade with drums and many other creatively clothed people. The first parade we found was when we were on the way to the gelato bar.  We all watched it with with dropped jaws and Trey danced with the drum’s rhythm.   We’ll have to post the video when we have a faster internet connection!

The evening culminated in a candlelight parade to San Fortunato
(This was written by all of the kids)

1 comment:

  1. Looks like fun ! Do people go to work there, or just enjoy Carnevale? In Germany it's called Fasching. They go kind of crazy there too. Get ready for Ash Wednesday....I guess there won't be fun and games everywhere then. My birthday has been on Ash Wed before which isn't a whole lot of fun. One time Uncle Tom's birthday was on Easter Sunday!

    ReplyDelete