Carnevale di Putignano 2027: the official dates of the 633rd edition

The Carnival of Putignano 2027 has its dates. The Fondazione Carnevale di Putignano has announced on its official website the calendar of the 633rd edition, entitled «Smascherata! Liberate le maschere» (Unmasked! Set the masks free): four days of allegorical float parades, from 31 January to 13 February 2027, preceded by the rituals that open the festivities as early as 26 December.

The 2027 parade dates

There are four days of parades of the papier-mâché allegorical floats, more than 12 metres tall:

• Sunday 31 January 2027, in the morning
• Sunday 7 February 2027, in the morning
• Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday) 9 February 2027, in the evening
• Saturday 13 February 2027, in the evening

The Fondazione points out that these are the only official dates of the 633rd edition: any date announced elsewhere does not match the Fondazione's calendar. Exact times have not yet been announced. Before and after the floats go by, each parade day will have a programme of side events, which will be presented in the coming weeks.

Why a “low” Carnival

In 2027 Easter falls on 28 March and Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday) comes as early as 9 February: according to the Fondazione, this has not happened since 2016. With such a tight calendar, Putignano has chosen to align its parades with those of Italy's great papier-mâché carnivals: like Viareggio, Cento and Fano, it will open at the end of January and continue beyond Shrove Tuesday, until Saturday 13 February.

«This year's calendar is tight and asks everyone for an extra effort. Together with the Board, we chose to move in step with Italy's great carnivals, with dates aligned to theirs, and to give certainty to those who work on the Carnival, those who live it and those who come to see it», said Carla Schiavone, president of the Fondazione Carnevale di Putignano since 22 October 2026.

Before the floats, the rituals

In Putignano the Carnival does not begin with the parades. The rituals are its origin and mark, week after week, the passage from winter to spring and from festivity to Lent. The 2027 calendar:

• Saturday 26 December 2026: Festa delle Propaggini, which opens the Carnival
• Sunday 17 January 2027: feast of Sant’Antonio Abate (Saint Anthony the Abbot): the propagginanti take centre stage again and the most intense period begins
• Thursday 21 January: Giovedì dei Pazzi (Thursday of the Madmen)
• Thursday 28 January: Giovedì delle Donne sposate (Thursday of the Married Women)
• Tuesday 2 February: Festa dell’Orso (Feast of the Bear)
• Thursday 4 February: Giovedì dei Cornuti (Thursday of the Cuckolds)
• Monday 8 February: Estrema Unzione (Extreme Unction)
• Tuesday 9 February: Funerale del Carnevale (Funeral of the Carnival) and Campana dei Maccheroni (Macaroni Bell)

From 26 December to 13 February there are exactly seven weeks of Carnival. Times and places of the rituals will be given in the full programme.

The theme: «Smascherata! Liberate le maschere»

«Ritual is the way a community allows itself, for a set time, to tell the truth», explains Andrea Colamedici, philosophical and cultural director of the 633rd edition as well. «For seven weeks Putignano suspends the ordinary rules: it makes fun of the powerful, of the neighbours, of itself. “Smascherata!” (Unmasked!) comes from this: at Carnival the mask does not hide, it frees. The parades are the moment when all this becomes a show; the rituals are the place where you understand where it comes from.»

Tickets: what we know

Tickets for the 2027 parades are not on sale yet. The Fondazione will present times, ticketing and side events in the coming weeks, together with the full programme. We will update the Carnevale di Putignano page as soon as they are available.