The 2009 Viareggio Carnival is a festival in the name of love, peace and solidarity. The main stars of these brilliant shows will once again be the huge paper maché floats which parade from the 8th February to the 1st March 2009, offering a wide programme of entertainment and fun for little ones and adults.

The programme of Viareggio Carnival including a large number of shows and cultural events such as fun musical comedies in vernacular, a series of carnival menus available in restaurants of the area, festivals in the various town neighborhoods, as well as numerous masked balls held in the best discotheques and ballrooms of the area.

This year’s edition will involve numerous European cities that are venues of important Carnivals. Viareggio`s costume parades originated in the 19th Century (1873) organized by the Pacini Theatre and the city casino on the Piazza Grande and the Via Regia. From time immemorial Viareggio has always celebrated Carival in one fashion or another. When Lucca was a dukedom it became a tradition for the Goverment to give the people a day off on Shrove Tuesday so that "gentry and servants could feast together".

The people of Viareggio would nominate someone who was a bit of character to rule the city that day, dressed in the typical costume of "chiodara e scroi" with a red scarf around his waist and provocatively nicknamed him the "Puppino" as opposed to "Pupponi", an officer in the ducal government.

The idea of inventing a parade of carriages, full of flowers and people in costume was debated for a long time by the habitués of the Casino’s Cafe who tended to be young men from good families who certainly had a carriage or two in the courtyard of their mansions. They were bored with the soirées at the Pacini Theatre or in the reception rooms of the casino and wanted to try something new: partying under the open air, dancing in the streets.

Via Regia was selected and the idea of a "parade" was immediately embraced by the people who gradually added their own carts and wagons to the carriages of the gentry.

In 1930 the symbol of Carnival became "Burlamacco", a strange sort of puppet which was a mixture of various "comemedia dell` arte" characters.

Over the last few years the emphasis of the floats has been on political satire, making fun of certain politicians or controversial events which took place during the year.

The sheds where the floats are made can be visited outside of Carnival time. "Carnival City" is in an elliptic-shaped square onto which face the 16 sheds where the floats for the next year are prepared.

For more information visit

• http://www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com/