Oranges and people pulped in Battaglia delle Arancie

by Bruce McMichael

Cool morning air blows down from the Alpine mountains into Ivrea, in Piedmont, northern Italy and mingles with the scent of oranges, stacked in quiet street corners and squares ready for the city’s annual carnival, the Battaglia delle Arancie (Battle of the Oranges). It’s mid-February and time for the carnival, in which locals pelt each other oranges representing centuries of local history and the overthrow of oppressive rule.

Carnival is taken seriously in Italy, with villages, towns and cities across the country getting in on the celebrations. With its haunting masks, intrigues and beautiful backdrops Venice Carnival is perhaps the best known. Carnival is staged just just before the Christian period of Lent, usually starting in February and is all about excess, including using up food before the rigours of denial that shapes these 40 days leading up to Easter.

Ivera’s carnival is steeped in history, and food is one key aspect that brings the community together. Huge pots of beans cooked in giant pans with pork rind, pigs bones, lard, onions and cotechino sausages are prepared by each of the city’s districts and ceremoniously eaten early in the morning. Originally beans were thrown, then apples. Later, in the 19th century, oranges came to represent the stones thrown at the king’s castle in order to demolish it. Today the horse drawn carriages are described as representing a nobleman’s army while the Aranceri, the orange throwers, represent revolutionaries and the common people. There are nine teams on foot, each wearing colours and based in a particular section of the historic old centre of the city.

Tonnes of oranges are hurled between the opposing sides, and it’s easy to get swept up in the emotion and community spirit of event, a violent reenactment of a bloody period of history.

It’s an exhilarating, colourful spectacle and exciting to be a part of. Questions are raised every year about food waste, animal welfare, food waste and participants getting bloodied and injured by the thrown fruit. But they are never fully answered, and the carnival continues.

  • Oranges are the only fruit, and it hurts to get one of these in the face, as I did!
It’s exhausting taking part in the battle
  • Ivrea is located on the Dora Baltea river
Horses and carriages are an imposing presence on the streets
Wearing a red cap tells people you are throwing oranges and is supposed to offer protection. But in the heat of the moment, many hat wearing people where struck
Teams of four or two horses are used to pull the carriages through the streets
Oranges are also refreshing weapons
  • Crates of oranges are strategically stacked around the town in battle hotspots
Piazza Ottinetti is home to the Scorpion team, Scorpioni d’Arduino, pictured here wearing team colours
Spirited, wounded and battle hardened Aranceri
  • Snow ploughs are used to clear the pulp from the slippy streets
  • Let battle commence!
  • A Scorpion team member takes aim
Fighters get up close and personal
Taking a bread from the battle
Carriages take about five minutes to travel around the square, and the oranges fly through the relentlessly
It’s hot work under the protective masks
Scorpion team members in Ivrea’s picturesque Piazza Ottinetti
Throwers from the Scacchi team, taking colours from a chess boards and orange, a symbolic colour associated with Ivrea’s castle
Neat footwork is needed on the slippery streets of Ivrea
No hard feelings, and time for a selfie
Street scene in Piazza Ottinetti
Oranges fill the air while the carriages are in the squares
Friendships are made in after the heat of battle
A tired thrower and the mess left on the streets
Under fires in the battle of the oranges
Scorpion team members take their hairstyles seriously
Redcaps taking cover behind safety netting. However, there are many larger holes that let some fruit through
Street scenes and team colours around Ivrea
  • Wearing elaborate costumes is a an important part of the Ivrea carnival
Police horses and carriage horses are an integral part of the carnival
Polenta making, fuel for the hungry
A marching band whipped up martial excitement amongst the crowds
Not as scary as the look
Ivrea straddles the Dora Baltea river, a world-class centre for canoe racing. The Canoe Slalom World Cup will be hosted by the city in July 2020
Characters at the carnival, but importantly the lady in the bottom left image is the most important character of the carnival, the ‘Mugnaia ‘ or miller’s daughter. She first appeared in the carnival of 1858 in the midst of political and military efforts to unify Italy, the Risorgimento and the colors of her costume also recall the country’s flag colours
Woolly head gear showing team colours, and popular in the chilly early mornings

All images (c) The Lemon Grove 2020

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Bruce McMichael

Food writing, discovering food stories, meeting producers, chefs and food enthusiasts are all part of desire to inspire, inform my readers and fellow food lovers. I am a freelance writer, journalist and published author focusing on the international world of food and drink, culture and travel. In 2019 I graduated from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy with a Masters in Food Culture, Communication and Marketing. I am now a visiting Professor at the university teaching Food & Drink Writing. Based in London I travel widely, particularly across western Europe. I have chaired many conferences and meetings, spoken at conferences and events and often appear on radio and TV talking most about food, the business of food and being an entrepreneur. In 2017 I won an episode of the ITV (the UK-based national television channel) cooking competition show, 'Gordon Ramsay's Culinary Genius'. I took my children on holiday to Sicily with the prize money. As an experienced farmers' market manager and operator of a small marmalade/ preserves company, I am very familiar with the issues surrounding local food, farming, enterprise and the environment.