Whoa, if anybody is out there reading this than you'll know that it's been awhile since I have posted anything. I've been busy with school, and my computer broke, so I'm just now getting back at it. It says that the last time I was able to write was February. So we have to talk all about my experience in Ivrea, Torino, and all about Easter and school. Well we (The AFS exchange students) got the chance to do an ''exchange week". We got to choose a city in Italy and go there for a week during their carnival. I chose the city Ivrea, which is located close to Torino, about an hour from the french and swiss border. In their carnival, they had the "Battle of the oranges."
The Battle of the Oranges The Story
Many many years ago, there was a tyrant in the city of Ivrea. The tyrant had control of the city. But the princess didn't like this tyrant, and so one day she threw a rock at him. And all of her followers started throwing rocks at the armies of this tyrant. So the carnival now is a representative battle of the battle that happened many years ago.
My Experience/ The Carnival
In Ivrea, from March 5-8, there is the famous Battle of the oranges, which I will abbreviate as BOF to aviod constant writing out the name. So in the BOF, there are 9 teams. Each team comes from a different part of the city, but really they are just groups of friends. Each team has a square, or share a square with another team. So 9 teams, 9 squares. Each team has their own outfit, which is and old design, made out to be like a knight or from the knights and kings times. So when you walk into one of the squares, the first thing you will notice will be the WHOLE square completely decorated, with paint, pictures and the colors of the team. Then there will be the 10 boxes of about 2,000 oranges each, so for each team about 20,000 oranges a day. Everyone has a bag, and you fill it up with oranges. Then, the "Kings army" comes. They have horse drawn carragies about 2.5 meters high and 8-9 "soldiers" on the top. These guys are dressed in completely protective suits with masks and padding. The battle starts when they enter the square and everyone throws oranges as fast and hard as they can. The team who throws the hardest according to the "soldiers" wins.
Torino
I went to visit my sister Letizia in Torino. It was a ton of fun, and I hope to go again soon, but for now, here are some photos! It was really cool because it was the 150 anniversary of Italy and Torino was the first capitol, so everything was decorated and very fancy. It was quite a trip!
The Battle of the Oranges
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