Growing up in Italy, every February we celebrate the Carnival!

Carnival takes place 40 days before Easter and it ends on the night of "Fat Tuesday". In 2020 the “Fat Tuesday” will be on the 25th of February leaving us 3 weekends to celebrate!

The most famous carnival of Italy is the one celebrated in Venice, but also other cities like Viareggio and Ivrea, still follow spectacular traditions during this festivity!

In Venice, the carnival includes sophisticated masquerades and parades while in Ivrea, for example, the core celebration centers around the Battle of the Oranges which involves townspeople and tourists, divided into teams, throwing oranges at cart-based teams  — with considerable violence!

To get an idea of this tradition you can watch THIS VIDEOby the Italian singer Cosmo, for the song “L’Ultima Festa”, which was filmed during the Ivrea Carnival.

 

Bringing a bit of carnival with us to the US!

 

The carnival festive season comes just before the liturgical season of Lent and it is a period in which eating is seen as a way to celebrate and get ready before the sacrifices people will do for Lent.

Usually, kids wear costumes for parties at school and with their friends and, similarly to what happens in the US for Halloween, they go from house to house asking for sweets and chocolates.

As for the typical food we eat during the carnival there is one thing you cannot miss: the Chiacchiere - also called “Bugie” or “Frappe”, depending on the city. These fried, sugar-coated pastries are a must of the season and in our store you can find the traditional recipe by Cianciullo.

The Chiacchiere are also pretty easy to make at home - if you would like to try to make them, Laura will share her recipe in the next post of the Blog - but they are not the only Italian dessert you can cook at home.

We created an entire category in our store dedicated to your “BAKING NEEDS” where you can find everything you need to help you bake the perfect desserts for carnival and beyond!

 

Start shopping now to receive your goods directly at home: