Hope I'm not breaking the rules too much by not asking about plans, but I remembered seeing something sooo cute in Rome,and I was wondering if anyone here can explain: When I was in Rome a few years ago I saw little kids wearing costumes; they were cute like butterflys, fairies etc, not like Halloween costumes. Whenever these kids crossed paths, they threw confetti on each other. Walking around the city, I saw little puddles of glitter and confetti left everywhere in the wake of these encounters. This was a few days after Mardi Gras; I don't know if adults in Rome celebrate Mardi Gras or Carnival, but I thought perhaps this was a kids' version?? Just wondering:-)
Rome isn't the best place for big carnivale celebrations, there is Venice obviously or Viareggio. Head to Villa Borghese if you want to see all the kids dressed up again, or just walking around Via del Corso. The night clubs tend to do some kind of theme evening, but I don't know if that is what you had in mind.
Sorry if this post violates any rules of the board.......
One of the many aspects of Roman and Italian life of which we know nothing.
What you saw were kids celebrating Carnivale, which children (and some adults) do for the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras all over Italy. Many schools also close over the Mardi Gras weekend so what you saw was perhaps an overspill of that. Little girls are usually princesses, fairies (there is this wildly popular cartoon called Winks featuring half naked fairies on TV here) and the boys are usually superheroes. Animals costumes are very populare with the younger children. Celebrating Carnivale is one of the many wonderful things about being a child in Italy.
Claire,
I will be in Rome over Mardi Gras weekend. Is there anything special I can put on my itinerary?
I just wanted to assure Penny that she did not break any "rules".
This forum is open to any kind of discussion about travel. Unusual things you have seen or eaten, different courtesies and practices, how your trip went, and advice and questions about all of it. How to handle jet lag, easy ways to buy train tickets, how to budget food costs, how to do laundry, what to wear in the winter, where was your favorite church, monument, park, restaurant and so on.
Occasionally we even have fun threads where all of get quite silly.
Well, if you do not obey the "rules" we will be forced to send you to Wales, where Neil hangs out.
Thank you for answering my question and for not making me feel foolish for asking it:-)I was being a little facetious when I mentioned breaking the rules, but I was still afraid I would find a goose egg under "replies" when I logged on. I should have known that I'm not the only one here who is as interested in the little differences as in the big monuments.
Cheers everyone!