In Italian Town, a Civics Lesson From Pelting Neighbors
IVREA, Italy, Feb. 18 — For the uninitiated, the annual orange battles of Ivrea in northern Italy are a lesson in both physics — the impact of the thrown fruit as it hits the flesh — and the history of this medieval town and its need to act out a legendary tale of civic rebellion in such a bruising fashion.
“It’s a bit masochistic,” admitted Elisabetta Dottelli, 20, an Ivrea native and a member of one of the participating teams, during a short lull in fighting at Piazza P. Ottinetti, one of five major battlegrounds. She was referring to the Historic Carnival of Ivrea, the three-day orange-throwing festival set here to mark the celebration before Lent.
Within moments, fighting would resume and the sky above would be filled, yet again, with a hailstorm of oranges.
Thousands of spectators gazed on the battles from behind canopies of fish netting stretched throughout the city. The netting served to protect noncombatants from any errant oranges among the hundreds of thousands thrown, smashed, mulched and stomped on throughout a daylong symbolic battle between the citizens of the city and the imaginary forces of oppression. Some of the spectators, though, joined right in.
The carnival is a bizarre and messy affair and, like most everything in Italy, has a long story behind it.
Read entire article at NYT
“It’s a bit masochistic,” admitted Elisabetta Dottelli, 20, an Ivrea native and a member of one of the participating teams, during a short lull in fighting at Piazza P. Ottinetti, one of five major battlegrounds. She was referring to the Historic Carnival of Ivrea, the three-day orange-throwing festival set here to mark the celebration before Lent.
Within moments, fighting would resume and the sky above would be filled, yet again, with a hailstorm of oranges.
Thousands of spectators gazed on the battles from behind canopies of fish netting stretched throughout the city. The netting served to protect noncombatants from any errant oranges among the hundreds of thousands thrown, smashed, mulched and stomped on throughout a daylong symbolic battle between the citizens of the city and the imaginary forces of oppression. Some of the spectators, though, joined right in.
The carnival is a bizarre and messy affair and, like most everything in Italy, has a long story behind it.