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SICILY CARNIVAL

Carnival in Sicily, as in many other parts of the world,means happiness. Masks, confetti and streamers areeverywhere together with a lot of music. Almost everytown organizes something for carnival. But where is thebest carnival in Sicily ? There are many towns whichassert that they have the best or the oldest carnival inSicily. However, three towns celebrate carnival wihtspecial events. They are Acireale, near Catania, alsofamous for its baroque architecture, Sciacca, nearAgrigento, famous for its thermal baths and TerminiImerese, another town famous for thermal baths, nearPalermo.

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The Carnival in Sicily has ancient origins. It is the feast ofabundance and binge eating before Lent fasting. This isthe week of the year when delicious gravies and richdishes are served at our tables; macaroni, cavateddi (atype of pasta) with meat sauce and pork rind, thetraditional fat Thursday soup, typical of Modica County,and a lot of sweets as the Turkish’s heads of Scicli, thepignolata of Messina and the delicious chiacchere, stripsof sweet pastry dough fried and coated with powderedsugar.

 

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ACIREALE: It is considered one of Sicily’s most beautifulcarnivals: the Carnival of Acireale, magni�cent Baroquecity in the Province of Catania. Acireale’s Carnival boasts an almost-ancient tradition,having begun in the 16th Century – and since, having runevery February from then on as a spontaneous partyamong the people.

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Peculiar to this fest was the launching of rotten eggs andcitrus fruits in streets – at least until an edict �nallybanned this “game.” At the start of the 1700s, the Carnivaltook on more re�ned tones thanks to a new addition:“abbatazzi” or folk poets that improvised rhymes on thestreets of Acireale.

In the 19th Century, the “cassariata” then came on thescene, the parade of distinguished, horse-led carriagesfrom which nobles launched sprays of candy and confettiat spectators. Yet it was only in the 1930s that papier-mache masks entered into the picture, along with �oatsled by steers and accompanied by various characters andsatirical groups in constant movement. Making the Carnival of Acireale even more spectacularare the parades of ebullient and outrageous �oats, a drawfor thousands of tourists every February. So beloved is theCarnival of Acireale that the act is repeated in August:taking advantage of the beautiful summer nights, the City

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taking advantage of the beautiful summer nights, the Cityputs on the Parade of the Grotesque Floats. The merits ofvisiting Sicily and above all the splendid City of Acirealeget bumped up even higher when you consider that notfar off exist a range of breathtaking sites to visit. ThinkCatania, Mt. Etna, and the deep blue sea lying in wait onall sides of this amazing isle.

SCIACCA: The Carnival of Sciacca (Agrigento) has veryold origins and it seems to be linked to the ancient,Roman Saturnalia. The �oats �gures are majestic and themasked groups’ movements are very graceful andattractive. Artisans of papier-mache, architects,illustrators, blacksmiths, choreographers and dancerswork for months and months with great alacrity and

mastery. Unpublished poems in Sicilian dialect are recited

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mastery. Unpublished poems in Sicilian dialect are recitedby spontaneous poets whose satire is inspired by thelocal and national political personalities.

The Grotesque �oats and masked groups parade alongthe streets of the historical center starting from fatThursday, when the key of the city is symbolically given tothe king of Carnival, Peppi ‘Nappa, untill fat Tuesday, whenthe King’s Float is burnt at the stake.

TERMINI IMERESE: In Termini Imerese (Palermo) theparades of the Grotesque Floats satirize the personalitiesfrom the worlds of politics and entertainment. Verycharacteristic are the puppets of the nannu and thenanna, (the grandparents) whose tradition dates back to

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nanna, (the grandparents) whose tradition dates back tothe 800, imported by the Neapolitans who came with theBorbones escaping from Naples. The nannu representsthe Carnival which is burnt at the stake on Fat Tuesday,marking the end of the period of the joy. The Nanna, onthe other hand, is a thin and tall woman symbolizing thepain and the penitence of the Lent. One of the mostamusing moments of the party is the reading of thenannu’s will, through which the most importantpersonalities of the city are teased.

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