Carnival and Easter

Carnival period has gone few weeks ago and we are waiting for Easter.

Easter holidays are the best period to visit Tuscany and Chianti, because there is less people than in Summertime and the weather is not so hot but normally sunny.

Sovigliano Farmhouse is between Florence and Siena, in the heart of Chianti, surrounded by vineyards and olive fields; it's the right place to start visiting the Tuscan cities of art, with the possibility to have relax and tranquility in the wonderful Chianti countryside.

This month on our blog we would like to talk about Italian traditions linked to Carnival and Easter, passing through Lent.

The Saturnali, a festival similar to modern Carnival was already celebrated in the Ancient Rome.

In these days, consecrated to Saturn god, everything was possible and there was an overturning of the social rules. During Saturnali slaves could mock their masters, without any fear of punishment, because they were both living in a special period where a surreal world took the real world's place.

Modern Carnival Festival comes from this ancient festival and in Carnival period every strange thing is allowed.

After Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire, Carnival has a different meaning and importance: a period of excess before a period of sacrifice (the Lent).
Both Carnival and Lent are period of excess, but in different directions: the first is the excess of eating, drinking, making party, being eccentric and has its full swing on Mardi Gras; the second is a silent period of reflection and small sacrifices, until Easter Day, where they celebrate Jesus's resurrection and it is linked to nature's renaissance.

Symbol of the Easter is the egg and this is not a coincidence, because this little universe inside a round shell represent in the best way the renaissance of nature and life (the Spring), after a dark and dead season like Winter is.

So now we are in Lent period, waiting for the nature to reawaken and for Spring to come!