The first day of Lent is marked
by the handing out of polenta and cod cooked in large frying-pans
and cauldrons on the streets.
The Mugnaia, the General and the other characters, no longer in
their fancy dress, come to have a taste and receive the final plaudits
of the crowd. The town, meanwhile, is beginning to look its usual
self.
Only the acrid smell of oranges rising from the streets remains to remind
one of the enthusiasms of the last few days, and the excitement that
will be aroused once more when the strains of the next reveille announce
the start of another carnival time.
