Carnevale in Putignano

The Carnevale celebration in Putignano is one of the biggest and oldest in Italy. I hadn’t even heard of it until I started to do research for my trip and remembered I would be in Italy for Carnevale.

This one has a long history of using Carnevale for biting political and social comment, mercilessly lampooning the politicians of the day. As you would expect Silvio features strongly.

Among others this year’s parade included floats about BP and the Gulf of Mexico, waste disposal, and the North-South divide in Italy. I’m sure if time permitted they would have had a float on Ghaddafi – apparently Silvio and the Colonel are great mates.

It’s great fun and the whole town gets involved with people filling the streets. There will be another parade in the evening of 8 March after which there will be a huge bonfire with the locals partying long into the night – the last chance for gluttony, lusty sinfulness and mischief making before Lent starts on 9 March

That’s enough from me. Instead check out the video and the slide show and as always double click on the pics for bigger images. This link will take you to the Putignano Carnevale website.