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Viareggio Carnival, celebrating 137 years of life and activity under the sign of a vivid tradition such as the long-established European tradition of Carnival festivals, is no doubt one of the best known events in Italy.

Viareggio Carnival, which was born as a popular expression of the town soul, has been acquiring more and more since it was born, a strong tourist value and attracts every year more than ONE MILLION spectators gathering to attend the magic of the great parades of big floats in papier-maché.

In 2010, the usual five carnival masked parades are planned for 31 January, 7, 14, 16 and 21 February , on the extraordinary Liberty style staging along the seaside avenues of Viareggio. Every evening, there are carnival celebrations in all of the city’s different quarters. The most famous bars, restaurants, discos, etc., including the largest hotels in Versilia, host colourful all night masked carnival parties.

In 2010 Viareggio will guest, during the Carnival period, great events as concerts with some of the most famous Italian and International pop singers. For a more detailed program, check after 14 January on The official website

That is to say, Viareggio offers the opportunity for having lots and lots of fun for four weeks!

Viareggio Carnival’s peculiarity consists in giant, allegorical papiermaché floats - the biggest ones weighing about forty tons each - and expresses nowadays the old knowledge going back to the ancient ‘trionfi’ (war-victory feastings) of the Renaissance, adhering even more to the building techniques of the big sailing ships, a pride of Viareggio traditions.

Real travelling theatres - the allegorical papier-maché floats are the product of the unequalled creativity, of the extraordinary sculpture and painting skill of Viareggio ‘magicians’, and are the highest example of this popular art whose language has spread all over the world.
The parades take place in a ring-like circuit 3 km. long, on the seaside avenues of Viareggio, best known as La Passeggiata.

Here the floats move among the spectators, who can attend the show with no barriers, becoming in turn the protagonists of the parade.

During the Carnival period, Viareggio and his Passeggiata change into a true open air Museum where people coming from all over the world meet to enjoy together.

The parades also include folkloristic bands and performers with the most original masks, offering excitement, culture and tradition in a wide programme of entertainment and fun for children and adults.

THE ORIGIN OF VIAREGGIO CARNIVAL

The carnival of Viareggio (Italian: carnevale di Viareggio) is a carnival event yearly held in the Tuscan city of Viareggio, in Italy. It is considered amongst the most renowned carnival celebrations in both Italy and Europe.
Its main characteristic is given by the parade of floats and masks, usually made of paper-pulp, depicting caricatures of popular people, such as politicians, showmen and sportsmen; the parade is held on the Viareggio avenue located alongside the local beach.
The first Viareggio carnival parade was held in 1873, when some wealthy middle-class men decided to organize a parade of floats adorned with flowers; a number of local citizens, as a sign of protest, then decided to put on masks in order to show their refusal of high taxes they were forced to pay. The first float to win the parade, in 1883, was named I Quattro Mori (The Four Moors), an accurately representation of the homonymous Livorno statue. The carnival continued to gain popularity within the years, and in 1949 a football youth tournament, called Torneo di Viareggio, was first organized as a collateral manifestation.
The official mascot of the Viareggio carnival is the burlamacco, first depicted in 1931 by Uberto Bonetti. Since 2001, all the floats are built in an apposite seat, called cittadella del Carnevale (Carnival citadel), located on the northern side of the Viareggio city territory.