The Veronese Carnival dates back to 1531 and is one of the oldest in Italy.
Legend has it that in that year there was a severe famine, which caused the price of flour to rise so much that the poor risked dying of hunger. It was a nobleman Tommaso Vico da Verona who managed to collect a sum that for that year would have guaranteed the people the flour necessary for the gnocchi, the simple dish used by the common people.
Da Vico left a large sum of money in his will, so that every year, on Shrove Friday, gnocchi and wine were distributed in quantity to the indigent population. In memory of the event the Papà de' gnoco was born, the figure who leads the parade of city masks, a pot-bellied and bearded king who, in place of a scepter, holds an immense fork with a large dumpling on it.
A Veronese master craftsman will explain the ancient technique of making a papier-mâché mask. You will give vent to your creativity, creating something unique while respecting traditional techniques. While you decorate your papier-mâché mask, the master will follow you and tell you the story of the use of masks in Verona in the past centuries and you will be catapulted into a bygone era.
When the mask is finished you will be ready to participate in the oldest carnival in Europe!
Languages spoken by the Local: English, Italian, French, German
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