Magic at the Carnevale: Artisans of Viareggio

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Carnevale originated in pagan rituals celebrating winter turning to spring. For Christians it offers a brief hiatus before the rigours of Lent – hence the name ‘carnem levare’ – which means ‘to take away meat’. This is a time to create chaos, to question and poke fun at authority and, for the artisans of Viareggio, the opportunity to say something meaningful to the public and get them involved.

La Cittadella del Carnevale, just outside Viareggio, is a circular complex with 16 hangar-like warehouses and a museum. It’s here that we meet some of the artisans whose dizzying array of skills include design, art, modelling, mechanics, puppetry, welding, choreography and scenography. However, as in a circus, everyone has to do a bit of everything.

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The French Lebigre family travelled the world learning from other carnivals, and are credited with being the first to create a community theatre to perform in front of their floats. Each year they train 200 people from all walks of life to participate in their show. This year their grand float is entitled Laugh Pagliaccio, or the art of taking oneself seriously and features a clown looking at himself in the mirror as he readies himself for the show. Will he make us all laugh, or himself be the one to laugh at the world which has become a circus?

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Libero Maggini is an artist based in Pietrasanta who creates works in bronze, terracotta and marble. He is the son of two artists and each winter he works with his father at the Carnevale. This year, the 150th anniversary of the carnival, they created six figures for the masquerade category as a homage to Queen Elizabeth II and her dogs. It is titled Anglicani as a joke – ‘cani’ means dog in Italian.

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Edoardo Ceragioli started competing in the Carnevale in 1998. This year his creation is titled There was a boy like me, which quotes a famous song by Gianni Morandi denouncing the stupidity of war. His creations depict memories of a young boy’s life cut short in the rubble. Here you can see him working on the backpack representing the boy’s schoolboy years.

Francesco Manfré has been assisting Edoardo for some years and works as a lifeguard in Viareggio during the summer months.

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Matteo Raciti was born in Sicily and grew up in the artistic community of the Carnevale of Acireale studying architecture before coming to Pietrasanta to train as a sculptor with a special interest in puppetry. This year he called his masquerade Humanity has lost the thread, a modern retelling of the Ariadne and the minotaur myth. His minotaurs can’t get out of the labyrinths that our society has created. Will they be able to follow the red thread invented by a young Ariadne and find their way to a new humanity?

Here you can see him working with a colleague placing papier-mâché inside a mould.