THE MAGIC ATMOSPHERE OF PERSICETO HISTORICAL CARNIVAL

A truly unique Historical Carnival

The indisputable star of the Persiceto Historical Carnival is its character: Bertoldo.

The quick-witted peasant, along with his wife Marcolfa and his son Bertoldino, is created by the lively imagination of Giulio Cesare Croce (1550 – 1609), a brilliant storyteller and comedy writer from Persiceto.

For being exceptionally cunning, Bertoldo makes his way through the court of king Alboino, of whom he becomes advisor. Nevertheless, courtly life will turn out to be harmful to the good peasant who will die for having eaten court delicacies instead of “beans with onions and turnips cooked in ashes”.

The sharp peasant, sentenced to death penalty for hanging by the King himself in a surge of anger, will succeed in dodging it by expressing as a last wish the prerogative of choosing personally the tree where he would be hung.

Then he leaves for the wood with the soldiers who would comply with the King’s judgement.

After few days, he returns to the court with the same soldiers, who claim they couldn’t hang the peasant on the tree he had chosen; then, Bertoldo comes up holding a tiny tree sprout and tells the King: “Let’s wait for it to grow!”

Symbol of the rural wit sharpened by need, Bertoldo and his coarse family are part of a remarkable current of the Italian literary culture called Carnival genre. Its no coincidence that our Carnival in Persiceto, beside boasting a centuries-old tradition, has a unique element: the “Spillo”, “Spél” in Bolognese dialect, meaning “transformation”.

During the first Sunday of fancy dress processions, allegorical floats parade through the centre until they reach the town square, where they perfom

“LO SPILLO”

the multicoloured architectural structures transmute mechanically and spectacularly into a new shape that reveals the real allegorical meaning of the float.

This transformation is something really authentic and elaborate which aims at unfolding the true meaning of the allegory kept secret until then.

Our local carnival societies work paper-mâché in a terrific way and this skillful craftsmanship can be easily handed down to our young generations.

On the second Carnival Sunday, the floats are judged by a jury which awards the winners (plural is needed since there are several categories) a cloth showing Bertoldo and his son Bertoldino with their donkey.

Persiceto Carnival is truly original: WE’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU.

Tutte le info su: http://www.carnevalepersiceto.it/