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ARE YOU READY FOR CARNIVAL? LET'S SEE...
Walking the streets of Rome this month you may notice children dressed in costumes throwing confetti and 'coriandoli' (coloured pieces of paper) of each other; normally you only throw coriandoli at the masks you like. You may meet a lot of them along Via Cola di Rienzo and perhaps wonder what is going on! Well, this is Carneval, a feast which still survives in this form and in many fancy-dress parties. Let's explore the story of this celebration and get some idea about how to enjoy this Carnevale Romano...
The month of February, usually so cold and dark, does, however, contain the seeds of spring which soon burst into familiar scents and colours. Just as spring is the beginning of a new cycle, February represents the end of an old one. It was natural that this passage from winter to spring, representing the rebirth of nature, received special attention in a civilization whose economy was based on agriculture and was thus tied to the cycle of the seasons. Some pagan celebrations, with origins lost in the mists of time, continued into Papal Rome. Indeed, it would have been difficult for the Church to rid itself entirely of such deeply-felt ancient rites, so it chose not only to tolerate them, but also to imbue them with a new symbolism. Thus, through this archaic symbolism, those evolved into the Carnevale Romano that can be regarded as a rich aid in the comprehension of man's nature and fears. The Carnevale Romano, in the form described here, continued until about 100 years ago. We'll look for traces of it...
ALONG THE STREETS OF ROME...
If we had been walking along the streets of the city in those times, the 18yh and 19th centuries, Rome would have appeared something like this...
The city is still contained within the ancient walls. Outside lies the countryside with its poorly cultivated fields, malaria and brigands. The streets are dusty in the hot summer months and muddy in winter, and virtually impassable when the Tiber floods, as it regularly does.
Engraved stones in the city centre testify to these floods. The oldest tells of the flood of 1277. This stone can be found under the entrance arch of the Via dell'Arco dei Banchi along Via del Banco di Santo Spirito, on the right as you walk from Lungo Tevere. On the stone a line indicates the level that the water reached and the date.
Because of the proximity of the countryside (even areas inside the city walls like Porta S. Giovanni and Porta S. Sebastiano are uninhabited and used as vineyards and vegetable gardens!), Rome is entirely enveloped in a rural life style. You can see sheep feeding at the foot of the Campidoglio, in the Forum or in the park of Villa Borghese. Next to princely palaces there are poor dwellings, and the society is a rich tapestry of the clergy, nobility, 'popolino' - the people - active in various trades (mainly craft and commerce) and a huge number of beggars. There are many workshops - many streets still retain their names (Via dei Chiavari, Giubbonari, Vascellari, Ombrellari...) - and itinerant sellers selling water, herbs, tripe, fish, chestnuts, chairs, material, pans, who bellow their wares in rhyming phrases. For those among you who can read Italian, there's a little book called "I venditori ambulanti di Roma", M. B. Siroledi, Bancarella Romana, Edizioni dells Citta, lire 3.000, which contains 198 of these rhymes with related prints by G. A. Raimondini (1625-1712). On Via Anicia (corner Via S.M.dell'Orto), there is a little Museum of Art and Crafts in Rome. This museum, together with a library, is attached to a center of research on the same subject. This center is connected with the 'Arciconfraternita di S.M. dell'Orto, but I haven't been able, as yet, to have a look at it. One can always go to the church on a Sunday at 11am, when it's open for Mass (as it's now in restoration) and ask to Mr. Volpetti. Inside the church there is a big wooden chicken. It was given to Mary by the cooperative of the 'pollaroli', the people who raise and sell chicken. We'll see more about Roman Arts and Crafts in the March issue. Some Romans belonging to the 'popolino' cultivate the land of noblemen who prefer to rent their land rather than risk undertaking business themselves. This is the nascent business class. The nobles benefit from special privileges and live in their magnificent palaces although they are subordinate to the numerous priests. Finally there are the middle classes made up of officials and employees. "Just a few clever businessmen and enterprising aristocrats feel the need to secularise the city governement and reform it. The nobility and popolino take no part in this call for reform, and instead shut themselves in their palaces and 'rioni' being still strongly bound to the old traditions" [M.C.Biagi, 'Introduzione storica al XIX sec.' , ''Il Carnevale Romano'', brochure SPQR edition on free distibution at the reception of the Sovraintendenza Comunale, Portico di Ottavia, The Ghetto]. The Carnevale Romano is thus staged in this almost feudal atmosphere...See below.
THE ROMAN CARNIVAL
Via del Corso, paved with black stone was cleaned and covered with a thin layer of sand. A wooden stage was set up in Piazza del Popolo and in Piazza Venezia. All the inhibitants of Rome, from paupers to princes, prepared their costumes. The city's activities were suspended. Everyone prepared confetti and 'coriandoli' to enliven the feast. All Rome was aquiver with expectation, like a powder keg ready to explode. Still nothing had begun. Everybody was waiting for the signal to start one of the wildest and most immoral carnivals in Christianity: all manner of games, dancing, singing, courting, jokes and squabbles involving everybody.
At carnival all man were equal behind their masks, be they aristocrats or poor. Suddenly the bell from the Campidoglio rang out the beginning of the carnevale and everything sprang to life. The most exciting event was the daily horse race along the Via del Corso, hence the reason for the layer of sand on the street. Because of this race (in Italian 'corsa') the ancient Via Lata changed its name to 'Corso'. The name Lata was given instead to a sidestreet where today is a little fountain of drinking water with a man holding a barrel. It represents one of the 'acquaioli', who sold fresh water taken from springs such as the Acqua Acetosa. This spring is just outside the Acqua Acetosa train station, Ferrovie Roma Nord line that start from P.le Flaminio (Metro station). The original Acetosa water with its special taste and proprieties is now unfortunately contaminated by the polluted Tiber and so its water now comes from another source. But the original fountain (1616) is still there. You can then walk in the park of Villa Glori (1923-24) near there and visit the church of the Sacro Cuore Immacolato di Maria (1951-1952) on the near P.zza Euclide. From Piazza Euclide the train will take you back to P.le Flaminio. For this line you can use the B.I.G. ticket (see page 4). Back to Via Lata, the little drinking fountain was also moved, like the name Lata, from Via del Corso and you can still see the damage to it caused by the passing chariots. But let's go back to the horse race: the breed chosen were Barberi, which originally came from Africa and were expressly bred for these races. The 'corsa dei Barberi' substituted the crueller 'race of the bipeds' in which Roman Jews were forced to run. This shows just how cruel Romans could be in those times, deriving amusement from these races and the executions performed in public squares, normally Piazza del Popolo, Via dei Cerchi (Circo Massimo) and Piazza di Ponte, which doesn't exist anymore but was on the bank facing Castel St Angelo. To limit crime during the Carnevale Romano, the Pope introduced execution as a deterent, but this was only considered a further attraction by the Romans!
Whilst we are on the subject, an interesting visit can be made to the Criminology Museum inside the ld prisons along Via Giulia, entrance on Via del Gonfalone. It is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9am to 1pm, and on Tuesday and Thursday from 2.30pm to 6.30pm. Closed on Mon and Sun. The palace of the old prisons, or the 'Carceri Nuove' (1652-1655) was built by Pope Innocenzo X and has an impressive later facade with little barred windows by Valadier (1827). The Jews were able to avoid running in the race, by the payment of 300 scudi each year from the Jewish community, to be spent on the prize awarded to the owner of the winning horse. I don't know the equivalent today of that amount of money, but to have some idea, it was enough to make about twenty big banners (palia), stitched with gold and silver thread. This riderless horse races were held every night. Just a few minutes before 11pm, 4 fire crackers were set off at the same time in Piazza del Popolo (the starting gate or 'mossa') and Piazza Venezia (the finishing post where the horse were caught or 'ripresi').
I'm giving the Italians terms as those are the one that you will find as name of the paintings inside the Museo del Folklore.
At this point, the people took their place on both sides of the Corso, with policemen keeping order. The horses were let loose when a trumpet sounded eleven o'clock and they often ended up among the rowdy crowds, sometimes causing fatal accidents, which the laconic Romans interpreted as God's will.
THE CORSA DEI BARBERI OF THE 21TH OF FEBRUARY 1882
The horse race ends in tragedy. The crowd doesn't hear the starting signal and is trampled by eleven horses in front of the church of St Lorenzo in Lucina. Fifteen people die, and many others are wounded. Due to frequent accidents of this kind, the Corsa dei Barberi would be soon abolished.
MARDI' GRAS
The carnival ended on Mardi Gras, before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a period of fasting in preparation for Easter. This last day didn't end like all the others, with the horse race, but with a feast, again involving everybody, but this time in an even more chaotic and spectacular way: the 'Festa dei Moccoletti', or candles. Once again, candles and torches appear, this time in their thousands along Via del Corso, turning night into day with their flames. Everyone had his own 'moccolo' (candle) either in their hands, on their head-dress, or on the end of a wooden stick and protected under glass. Moccoli on balconies; moccoli on coaches; moccoli in the hands of children, ladies, brigands, princes and craftmen. The feast started sometime before midnight, after the horse race, and then the fun began, with everybody trying to extinguish somebody else's flame while defending their own. Screams rang out, and the chant: "Senza moccolo, senza moccolo!" to make fun of those who had lost their flame. Some tried to put out the candles on the balconies by throwing oranges or eggs, while others tried to estinguish those on the coaches by climbing up and blowing on them. Someone would distract a lady with a kiss, whisper in her ear and blow out her flame!...Everything and anything was permitted.
Charles Dickens describes the 'Festa dei Moccoletti' much better than me in his essay 'Visioni d'Italia'. Suddenly, at the climax of the feast and the fun, the bells of the churches rang out the 'Ave Maria' and thus the Carnevale came to an end in a single instant, extinguished with a breath...like a candle. But inside the palaces, the carnival carried on with a final binge, a great dinner based on meat, meat and much more fat meat in preparation for the restrictions of Lent. Inside the Museo del Folklore e dei Poeti Romaneschi (on Piazza S. Egidio, Trastevere) many paintings show moments from the Carnevale Romano. The Corsa dei Barberi and the Festa dei Moccoletti are portrayed and the atmosphere is wonderfully reproduced (I love the Ippolito Caffi, 'Festa dei Moccoletti'). Other pictures, and a collection of watercolours by Ettore Roesler Franz, show everyday life and scenes from 17th-19th century Rome. History shows us how people acted in different times and I believe we wouldn't be any different, if born in their shoes. No matter when and where they lived, men have always shared the same enthusiasm for animating their lives which makes history seem familiar and universal.
RUGANTINO AND HIS FRIENDS
Many masks, either carefully or casually prepared, enlivened the Carnevale Romano. The festival had its own, particular masks, representing everyday Roman life in a grotesque, satirical way. The most famous masks like Arlecchino, Pantalone, Brighella, belong to the tradition of Venice and Bergamo. They appear in the comedies by Carlo Goldoni, available in the English translations at the Anglo American and at the Lion book shops. "Arlecchino servitore di due padroni" (Goldoni) pub. Samuel French, lire 16.300 "Four commedies" (Goldoni) pub. Penguin, lire 19.000 also a book on "The commedia dell'Arte", pub. Routledge, lire 42.900. But the most famous mask, conceined in Naples, is Pulcinella. There's a great monograph written by D. Scafoglio and L.M. Lombardi Satriani: "Pulcinella, Il mito e la storia", edited by Leonardo, Lire 80.000, which can satisfy anybody's curiosity...if you read Italian. Althoug born in Naples, the mask of Pulcinella had great success in Rome where the mask was adopted and became 'the friend' of the most popular Roman character, 'Rugantino', who together with a close group of 'friends' formed a happy brigade! Let's have a closer look... Rugantino was born as a caricature of an arrogant but fearfull policeman. The character soon lost this characteristic to became one of the 'popolino' as depicted by the painter Bartolomeo Pinelli (a private collection of his prints can be found on show inside a tobacconist on P.zza S.Eustachio: Fumo negli Occhi). The new character, still arrogant, always has a ready repost...and is also still to be feared when it's time for a fight. But he is a positive character because Rugantino is a simple soul. His mask wasn't much represented in the real theatres, rather in puppet theatres which were the expression or the 'voice' of public opinion. Later, however, he was transferred to the stage with great success. Not many years ago a 'story of Rugantino' was played at the Teatro Sistina (Trinita dei Monti) by the actor Enrico Montesano, a perfect Rugantino, and the unforgettable Aldo Fabrizi portrayed 'Mastro Titta', the 'boia di Roma' (the public hangman) who performed his peculiar task for 68 years, executing 516 people before his retirement in August 1864. This man obviously became a legend.
If you like it's a good idea to buy or rent the video of the play: "Rugantino". It is, of course, in Italian and so you need to be familiar with the story. The atmosphere of those days is beautifully evoked, as it is also in the movie "Il marchese Del Grillo, " with Alberto Sordi playing the role of this noble from the beginning of 19th century in Rome.
Il marchese Del Grillo, who perhaps really did live in Rome (his palace can be found along the Salita del Grillo, which climbs the hill behind the Foro di Traiano from the bottom of Via Cavour), belongs to a noble class already in decline and combats the boredom of his position with games and practical jokes. You can find the tapes in any video-shop as well as at the Feltrinelli book shop on Largo Argentina where is a videotape section.
THE OTHER MASKS
Meo Patacca, a tough from Trastevere, born in 1695 from the pen of the writer G.Bernieri; Marco Pepe, his friend; Cassandrino, a puppet from the puppet theatre; the doctor Gambalunga, a charlatan itinerant quack; Cola, Pippetto; Norcino, a grotesque caricature of a sausage maker from the country; Coviello, of Napoletan origin like Pulcinella.
THE SWEET SIDE... FRAPPE E CASTAGNOLE
INGRIDIENTS: flour: 300 grams - sugar: 3 tablespoons - 2 eggs - the juice of half lemon - White wine.
FRAPPE: Mix all the ingredients together, adding the wine at the end to give the right thickness to the dough which must be thick enough to be rolled out in a thin film. You can then cut the pasta in strips about 5 cm wide and 10 cm long (you can buy a little weel expressly for the purpose or use a knife). Pinch the middle of the strip to make a 'butterfly'! Then drop the frappa into a pan of hot oil. When it turns a light brown colour, drain it off. Dredge with icing sugar or liquid honey...and eat!
The white wine is added to make the frappe crunchy.
CASTAGNOLE: mix the same ingredients together but use milk insted of wine. Mix the ingredients into a ball. The mix should be thick but not solid. Add some baking powder to the mix. Use a teaspoon to drop 'balls' of the mixture in the hot oil and again drain these off when they are a light brown
colour.
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