The sketches for the Carnevale di Putignano 2027

Seven designs, one question: and you, how many masks do you wear? The seven sketches of the allegorical floats of the Carnevale di Putignano 2027 have been presented, for the edition whose theme is «Smascherata! Liberate le maschere» (Unmasked! Set the masks free). A carnival where everything is the opposite of everything, and which, already on paper, promises to get people talking and smiling.

Italy’s longest carnival

It all began on 26 December 1394. To protect them from Saracen raids, the relics of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr were moved from Monopoli to Putignano. According to tradition, the farmers busy grafting vines with the propaggine (layering) technique left the fields to join the procession, dancing, singing and improvising satirical verses in dialect. This was the birth of the Festa delle Propaggini, which every 26 December opens what the Foundation calls the longest carnival in Italy and the oldest in Europe.

From Saint Stephen’s Day to Shrove Tuesday there is one ritual after another: 17 January, the feast of Sant’Antonio Abate, then the Thursdays dedicated to Monsignors, Priests, Nuns, Widowers, Madmen, Married Women and finally Cuckolds, with the horn-cutting ritual run by the Accademia delle Corna. The festival closes with the 365 chimes of the Campana dei Maccheroni, announcing Lent. The full story is on the website of the Fondazione Carnevale di Putignano.

Some scholars trace the roots of the festival even further back, to the rites for Dionysus from when Putignano was a colony of Magna Graecia. In the first half of the 20th century the craftsmen took the stage: carts with straw and rag puppets were replaced by the first floats with iron frames and paper coverings. Papier-mâché triumphed in the 1950s, when clay modelling joined wire and newspaper.

The 2027 theme: «Smascherata!»

The theme was developed with the Foundation’s philosophical and cultural director, Andrea Colamedici, now in his third edition. «Smascherata» does not mean taking the mask off, but going through it: amplifying it, enlarging it, multiplying it, until what it hides and what it reveals come to the surface. «At a time when everyone wears masks — social, digital, public — the Carnevale di Putignano chooses to make them a matter of thought and of papier-mâché», reads the Foundation’s press release of 20 July 2026. On Friday 7 August Colamedici explored the theme in depth at a meeting for those taking part in the call for entries, in the Council Chamber of the Comune.

The 2027 floats

Masks, mirrors, threads and illusions: Putignano’s master papier-mâché makers have each interpreted the theme in their own way, between satire and allegory. According to the Foundation’s call for entries, the floats must be completed by 23 January 2027, and the winter programme includes a maximum of four parades.

A citadel for papier-mâché

The 2027 call also introduces the allocation of two more hangars in the new Cittadella del Carnevale that the Comune di Putignano is completing: a step towards a permanent space for the master papier-mâché makers, where Carnival is designed and built all year round. The Foundation has also announced that the next edition will gain a new space: the regenerated Piazza Aldo Moro, in the heart of the town.

2027 dates

Dates to be confirmed. The official parade calendar has not yet been published: the Foundation has announced more news about the edition for the autumn, and we will add it as soon as it is available.