|
 In
February 1873, at the cafe Casinò, among rich young people of
Viareggio, born the idea to celebrate the Carnival with a procession
of carriages, in the square, among the people.
Since the Shrove Tuesday 1873 began the tradition of the Carnival in
Viareggio: one of the most spectacular events in the world.
Then, in the XX cent., were created the first carriages decorated: real
monuments made of wood, jute and gypsum, constructed inside the "Darsena"
where were constructed the ships and the boats too.
The First World War seemed to destroy the tradition of the Carnival
in Viareggio, with the "belle époque" in Europe; instead,
the Carnival was born again in 1921, when the carriages paraded along
the big avenue.
In 1921 was also composed the first official song: the "Coppa di
Champagne", now hymn of the Carnival.
For the first time the masks were accompanied by the music, because,
on the carriage "Tonin di Burio", which represented a marriage,
there was a band. Two years later the "Pierrot" was the first
mask that moved the eyes and the head. Since 1925 was used the paper-pulp,
that allowed big and light sculptures on the carriages.  Then
the constructors of the carriages were called "artist of the paper
- pulp". In 1930 the painter Uberto Bonetti imagined Burlamacco,
the famous mask that appeared with Ondina on the poster of 1931. Nowadays
Burlamacco is an important Italian mask, exposed in Rome, at the Museum
of the Folklore, and in Paris, at the Musée de l'Homme.
After the Second World War, in 1946, the Carnival flourished again and
passed also the crisis of 1960, when burned the "hangar",
inside which there were the carriages. The television has brought everywhere
the Carnival of Viareggio, that now is visited by politicians, showmen,
sportsmen (the protagonists of the carriages) and thousand and thousand
people. In 1998 the Carnival has celebrated 125 years of history with
one month of feasts, day and night. Among the other events we can remember
the "Coppa Carnevale", a world tourney of young soccer.
|
