Activities & Rules of The battle of the oranges

Orange fetishists are well advised to visit the northern Italian town of Ivrea, 35 kilometers from Turin, on the Sunday before Lent when the townsfolk stage their annual Battle of the Oranges, the country’s largest fruit fight.

It involves around 3,000 revellers on foot and in carts drawn by decorated horses and lasts for three days, after which everyone is covered in pulp and orange juice, and the streets are slippery with squashed orange peel.

The ceremony, part of the town’s historic carnival, marks the rebellion of the people against tyrannical lords who ruled the town in the Middle Ages.

Thousands come from far and wide to take part in the annual Carnevale di Ivrea, and it’s safe to say that no one leaves untouched by pulp.

Participants are divided into teams in carriages, who ride through the town and represent the emperor’s men, and teams on foot, which stay on the ground and represent the commoners. All, of course, are in full costume and armed with arance.

The battle became the present contest following fixed rules only in recent history, after the Second World War.The game was transformed into a spectacular event representing the fight for liberty and the symbol of the Ivrea Carnival.
500 tons of oranges are shipped from Sicily to the Piedmont region every year in order to provide weapons to the jubilant revellers.
The contest is still enacted in the main squares of the town where teams in carriages, symbolising the tyrant’s guards, battle against the orange thrower teams on foot, the rebellious commoners.

The carnival takes place in February: it ends on the night of “Fat Tuesday” with a solemn funeral. Traditionally, at the end of the silent march that closes the carnival the “General” says goodbye to everyone with the classical phrase “See you next Fat Thursday at 1 pm.”