Sunday, Quinquagesima

 

The day begins with the taking of the oath by the Podestà in the shadow of the red towers of Ivrea Castle.

This ceremony recalls the oath sworn by the Podestà (magistrate) called in from outside Ivrea by the Councillors to govern the town when it was a free commune: an oath taken on the Book of Civic Statutes to defend the commune's freedoms and liberties.

Beans are also served during the course of the morning at a dozen or so points around the town to commemorate the distribution of food to the needy by the Confraternities during the Middle Ages.

 

 

 

 

The leading carnival characters, too, stop for a taste at the Fagiolata del Castellazzo in Piazza Maretta on the road leading to the Old Bridge, where another ceremony is due to take place, known as the "Preda in Dora" (loot in the Dora).

 

 

     

 

The Podestà turns his back to the parapet beside the river and throws down into the water below a chunk of stone from the ruins of the Castellazzo. This recalls the efforts of the free commune to prevent the reconstruction of the castle after its destruction in the time of Raineri di Biandrate, and again after Guglielmo, Marquis of Monferrato, had rebuilt it in an attempt to lord it over Ivrea.

The afternoon is devoted to a full-scale procession through the old part of the town. The pipers and drummers are followed by the General and his staff, the Abbàs on their horses, a gilded coach with the Mugnaia and her attendants, and various groups representing the history and folklore of other parts who come to join the people of Ivrea in their carnival.

 

 

 

The rear of the procession is brought up by the carts bearing the orange-throwers drawn by single or double pairs of gaily caparisoned horses, while the orange-throwers on foot make ready to take them on in the colourful battle of the oranges that rages through the town's squares.

 

 

 

This is the most spectacular and distinctive moment of the Ivrea Carnival. More than three thousand combatants on the two sides hurl their oranges in a re-evocation of the insurrections of the townsfolk against their oppressors in days gone by.