Carnevale

My husband took our daughter with friends to celebrate. I dressed her as a hippie / flower child. I put together a bunch of cheap jewellery and clothes from the Chinese shops (what would we do without them at Carnevale time?) and painted her face a bit.

Here they do parades and parties for Carnevale on Sunday, and Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Martedì Grasso is not really celebrated. School's out, and they have what's called the "ponte" or bridge, meaning it's useless to send kids to school on Monday of they'll be off on Tuesday.

So it's a 4 (well, 3 and a half, day weekend -- kids go to school here on Saturday.)

School is Mon through Sat, 7:55 to 1:00. That's my daughter's school, considered private by those who don't attend, and those who send their kids their, but it's actually "paritaria", meaning open to anyone who can pay. So, technically not private in the real sense of the word.

Other schools, state schools, in this area also have Mon thru Sat, but with slight variations of time, very slight.

If I'm not mistaken, towards Rome many schools have abolished the Saturdays and make the weekday school day a bit longer.

So, today my husband took our daughter to celebrate Carnevale in the town piazza. There were simple floats and lots of confetti (which is called "coriandoli" here as "confetti" are sugared almonds!).

The best to see would be Carnevale in Venezia or Viareggio where they REALLY go all out. The pic I'm posting is from yesterday in the city of Brescia, nearby. The smaller towns gear the festival more towards the kids, while in Venezia and Viareggio they're probably the traditional festivals. I'll have to check them out some time.