Festival Bucket List: Battle Of The Oranges
What: The greatest, most insane food fight for the ages – The Battle Of The Oranges, or carnevale di Ivrea, sees locals battling it out with 500,000 kilograms of oranges in celebration of a juicy battle.
Where: In the tiny ancient town of Ivrea, Italy.
When: The event is held annually over four days in February – next year’s incarnation takes place from February 6-9.
A little history: Carnevale di Ivrea commemorates an uprising that occurred in the same city streets back in the 12th Century – commoners fought back against their tyrannical overloads after a messy misunderstanding that culminated in a decapitation. Quite funnily enough, the oranges are meant to represent the tyrannical lord’s decapitated head – pretty gory, hey?
Fun fact: On the old bridge the streets are pretty narrow, so the fruit piles up high. Cleaning up after the festival usually involves using snow-removal equipment to clear paths.
Why should you go? I mean, it’s people pelting fruit at each other – why the hell not? And fresh fagiolate, a delicacy of beans and cured pork, is often handed out to warriors for free following the festivities. Unlike La Tomatina in Spain, it’s not some messy free-for-all – there’s structured teams and a whole lot of strategy involved in the fight. It’s wet, dirty and a whole lot of fun. Get ready to be juiced!
(Images: Carnevale di Ivrea)
You’ve gotta see this – check out Qantas flights to Europe here.
