When planning day trips, we like to build them around a great meal, an event, a museum, a castle, or something else we have chosen for our destination—for me, even a food market or festival. My Florentine husband calls these day trips Zingerate, an expression from the wonderful film Amici—miei.
This year, I will share some of our favorite Divine Destinations monthly.
We have events we like to attend yearly and keep a calendar for them. There are seasonal festivals, especially “off-season” for the farmers. The dates will change, as the festivals or events are on weekends.
Italy is fabulous at festivals; some are worth planning a trip to. You do risk some lousy weather, but it is the best.
Carnevale is celebrated worldwide, and several Italian cities are famous for their elaborate parades with floats. I live not too far from Viareggio, on the Tuscany coast. They began their Carnevale celebration in 1879.
Venice is probably one of the most well-known Carnevale. Some other famous places are
Ivrea where they have a “battle of the oranges. I don’t like the idea of being hit with oranges!
Here is a link to some other larger cities with celebrations. There are always smaller festivals in towns and villages all over Italy. It is when the children dress up and have small parades and throw confetti.
Viareggio is known as a famous beach town and also for Carnevale. You can plan the trip around the Viareggio Carnivale celebrations, usually on the weekends before Lent, called Quaresima, begins. Viareggio celebrates with giant floats, which take almost a year to make; add the dancers and the smaller floats, which is insane. You need to check the calendar for the exact dates. You can reserve seats on the parade route or attend and walk around. You do need to buy tickets to enter the parade area.
It is a blast as locals dress up in silly costumes, and confetti and foam fly everywhere. Keep your mouth closed. Some of the floats are huge, like this elephant. Many have moving parts, dancers, and a band.
Carnevale.. quando ogni scherzo vale!
Carnival - when all jokes are allowed!
We have attended the actual parade several times. From Florence, you can also take the train, but it’s so crowded, especially on the way back to Florence. It becomes a party train. The parade itself has the large floats and the smaller neighborhood teams pieces.
The parade, sflilata, begins in the daytime and ends at night. Plan for a long day.
There was also an area behind the grandstands with regional food trucks/stands when we attended.I was intrigued by the bread cooked in the clay molds. The tiny meat kebabs are called arrosticini, from Abruzzo you usually order 10.
Panigacci, a typical "bread" made from flour and water cooked on clay "teste" which are stacked and cooked with the heated clay disks.
For my premium members, the travel tips are below. If you want to know my tips on the off-the-beaten track, join me and my Simply Divina members by upgrading to a paid account.
Members have access to the archive including recipe PDF’s, cooking videos, my travel guides to the Markets of Italy and a copy of my ebook: Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen.
