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World video travel guide
A little Venice on the border: Muggia and its Carnival
Overlooking a small dock at the foot of the hills, in an area that from a geographical point of view is already Istria, Muggia is Italy’s far eastern end. The historical connection with Venice can be clearly seen in the town’s look and dialect, but it is also revealed in the traditional carnival, which has been celebrated in Muggia at least since 1420. For centuries the “mato carneval”, the crazy carnival, starts on the last Thursday before Lent with the “ballo della verdura” (dance of vegetables), men and women dancing with garlands of vegetables on their heads and oranges in their hands, and ends on Ash Wednesday with the “funeral” of Carnival. A whole week of shows, colours, jokes and street theatre, which reaches its height with the parade of Carnival floats, scheduled on Sunday morning, the building of which engages for months the town’s skilful craftsmen, the heritage of the jobs linked to the shipyards of the area.
The event is organized by the “Compagnie” (Companies), groups of private citizens sharing the love for their town and for its traditions, who every year choose the themes to be represented at the parade and develop them in the realization of the floats and in the creation of pantomimes and shows. A peculiarity of the Carnival of Muggia is the absence of face masks: in Muggia people take part in the carnival to expose themselves to the public and to be recognized, therefore their faces are not hidden by masks.
The festival setting is made up of the characteristic calli, the picturesque piazza d’inverno with the Venetian-Gothic Cathedral and the Town Hall with the façade decorated with St. Mark’s Lions and with the coats of arms of the ancient noble families of Muggia, the mandracchio (small sheltered harbour), the Church of the Holy Crucifix and St. Francis’ Church. Finally, don’t miss the opportunity to taste the crostoli (angel wings) and the frittelle (fritters).
