February 19, 2007: Ivrea, Italy food fight with oranges

[Undertoad]

It's Neatorama Collaboration Monday!



IotD always covers the Tomatina tomato food fight in Spain. Well, how about an food fight with oranges in Italy? That's what the Carnevale di Ivrea is, and it's on the same scale as Tomatina but with harder-hitting fruit.



The backstory is better in this festival. It's a 13th Century tale of a young lass named Violetta, and the rude Marquis Raineri de Biandrate.

The Marquis, it turns out, was in the habit of taking the virginity of all eligible young women before they would be married.

He stole Violetta away on the night before her wedding. But this time, when he showed her to the citizenry from the castle balcony, the townspeople became enraged. Defending her honor, they stormed the castle and burned it to the ground.

Now when the situation is recreated, the oranges represent the head of the Marquis, and the juice represents his blood. It seems like they would get better mileage out of tomatoes, like Tomatina. But you go to symbolic war with the metaphors you have, not the metaphors you might want, or wish you had at a later time. This town has oranges, so there it is.







The fight is fierce, and the aftermath is quite bloody. Notice the banners and colors for different teams. There are nine teams in all, and they are judged. Unlike Tomatina, the spectators are theoretically protected from getting hit with wayward fruit. Because that would sting!











Be sure to check out Neatorama for more neato items every day.