Carnevale' Means PARTY!

Here I am playing out a scene from the old Mary Tyler MooreShow: arms out-stretched, twirling around while a cascade of confetti and streamers rains over me. My wife and daughter look at me like I'm crazy and maybe I am! This is Carnevale', baby! Who'd have thought that in the small town of Putignano (poo-tin-nianno) in Southern Italy, we'd be enjoying a celebration more at home in Brazil and not one of Italy's agricultural centers! Yet it's all here: fireworks and confetti, bright lights, load music and thousands of excited onlookers! Carnevale' may be better known via the wild celebrations in Venice, Italy or even Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but in Southern Italy's Puglia (poo-lee-uh) region, Carnevale' kicks off in late December and the fun doesn't stop until the first week of February, with most of the spotlight shining on this non descript medieval town. And for a few weeks at least Putignano more than lives up to its name as "party capital of Southern Italy."

The origins of Carnevale' in the Puglia region date back to 1300's. In fact, "Carnevale di Puglia" has pretty much been celebrated every year since that time. According to www.ilcomuneinforma.itthe Carnevale' celebration known and revered for it's colorful (and often sarcastic) paper-mache' floats that parody politicians and high ranking officials is thought to have officially kicked off on December 26, 1394.

Back then it was known as the celebration of Saint Stepheno -- patron saint of Putignano and the nearby town of Monopoly. This celebration is a variation on a theme: ushering in the winter months with hopes that the on-coming Spring will bring great crops, healthy babies and coffers full of money the taxman didn't his hands on. I ask you -- what more is there in life? Go figure that 714 years later, the Carnevale' of Putignano has evolved into the longest Carnevale festival in the world -- and I mean long in every sense of the word: in the number of floats showcased, the number of days to party and the amount of people that annually make a pilgrimage to Putignano to get their party on and have some serious fun!

First a little history or you: the figure most associated with Carnevale' di Putignano is known as Farinella. Perhaps you've seen him: the king of clowns dressed in colorful long-johns with a star-shaped collar, sporting a silly multi-pointed hat along with a button nose. The figure of Farinella is everywhere in Putignano: on street corners, in store windows and even on lapel buttons. The name "farinella" is actually a kind of flour -- very popular back in the day - a mixture consisting of cechi beans, orzo and corn, and a favorite among farmers throughout the Puglia region. But farinella is/was a flour mixture not meant for baking. It was mixed with tomato sauce to make a kind of gruel. Just the kind of thing someone working in the fields all day might want to gorge on during a quick meal.

That's all great information if you're on a diet, but let's face it, people come to see the Putignano Carnevale' festival for its many floats. The site www.trulliland.itpoints out that the Carnevale' celebration started out as a way to poke fun at politicians, the law and just about anything else that might irritate the local citizenship. What began as simple paper-mache' masks with the face of the clown farinella, soon evolved into elaborate floats that rival anything you might see at Disney World or even the Macey's Day Parade in New York .

It's a fact: although Carnevale celebrations and the parades that highlight them are featured throughout the country, the small town of Putignano has become the conduit for Southern Italy's Carnevale celebration. In fact, the enormous handmade paper-mache' floats that are the focal point of Carnevale are featured on television not only in Italy but throughout Europe. You can read more about paper-mache' -- called "carte pesta" -- in this very cool story I wrote here.

Perhaps you've played around with paper-mache' as a kid. In its simplest form, paper mache' is nothing but torn up strips of newspaper, flour and water. The difference here is the amount of paper, flour and water used. And the consistency is such that when enough of it is put on the float's chicken wire frame it can literally be sculpted. Back in the 800's the floats were pulled by horses and mounted on a wagon. These days, the paper mache' configurations are mounted on tractor trailers and mechanized with motors.

The paper mache' floats - referred to as "cari-di-carte-pesta" in Italian are designed and constructed months in advance. There may be easier ways of building these parodies of politicians and VIPS, but with respect to tradition it's either this way (by hand) or not at all.

During the month of January almost every weekend is reserved for a Carnevale' parade with all the festivities peaking on Fat Tuesday -- February 5^th. After parading the floats about the city for Carnevale', Putignano squeezes a little more life out of the floats by hosting "Carnevale' di Estate" (Carnevale' of Summer) - yet another excuse to party until the wee hours.

Fast-facts: Carnevale' is a big hit every year and if you find yourself down in these parts, you owe it to yourself to take a look. I recommend that you show up early-- at least several hours in advance. More for finding a parking space than anything else. The floats snake their way throughout the entire city -- up and down Putignano's 3 main boulevards -- so don't worry about staking out any particular street corner. Just go with the flow and follow the crowds. You can enjoy the goings-on from several vantage points if you stay mobile.

For more information check out www.carnevalediputignano.joynet.it and tell them Gary sent you! Or better yet, give me a holler and I'll take you to Putignano myself!