The Viarreggio floats are without doubt artistically and technically excellent. However, though they all are transmitting some sort of message - this is not always obvious to the casual observer. Fortunately, there is an excellent website to clarify things (or not) ...
This year, there were fewer "walkers" than usual, but one struck us poignantly (the first one below). It depicts the plight of the young educated Italian who now must fly abroad to find work which is not available for them in their own country. We have met quite a lot of this - including a sad conversation with a couple of students who are on the waiting staff at the Kirkwall Italian restaurant!
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| Matteo Raciti with his sad flying student ... |
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| Our beautiful Earth - before(right) and after ... |
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| No caption required |
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| A beautiful float representing the story of Medea - with a mime and dance performance carrying on in the foreground, on the float |
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| Homage to Frida Kahlo - she looked so real - even though she was 20 feet high |
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| An arresting image - best explained by the blurb in the brochure - "A sort of gigantic carousel, the carousel of life, in which ancestral female figures have large screens instead of faces, on which they transmit images of the chaotic actuality in which we live. While the giant stroboscopic ball acts as a skylight, and the pig, a symbol of economic power, makes its shady games."! |
Great testimonial of current Italian Society thru Carneval images!
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