The sketches for the Carnevale di Acireale 2027

From pencil to piazza. At the Notte dei Bozzetti (Night of the Sketches), the designs for the grotesque allegorical floats of the Carnevale di Acireale 2027 were presented: nine works that in a few months will become papier-mâché, music and wonder between Etna and the sea.

«The most beautiful Carnival in Sicily»

The first records of festivities date back to 1594, with a payment order from the Giurati for the “festi di carnilivari”. From its satirical vocation came one of Acireale’s first masks, theAbbatazzu, who mocked the clergy with his big books; later came the Baruni, who poked fun at the aristocracy, and the Manti. Around 1600 people played by throwing oranges and lemons, until a decree banned it in 1612. Then came the era of the “cassariata”, the parade of nobles’ carriages throwing sugared almonds, until in 1880 the first papier-mâché floats were built in Acireale.

Since 1970 the event has grown into what the people of Acireale call “the most beautiful Carnival in Sicily”, with ever more sophisticated allegorical floats and ever more impressive flower floats. In 1996 Acireale joined the national lottery together with Viareggio and Putignano. The story is told on the official website of the Carnevale di Acireale.

The 2027 floats

Category A

Category B

Acireale’s master papier-mâché makers are organised in cultural associations, to which the Foundation assigns a workshop in the Cittadella del Carnevale, north of the town. Here each workshop spends months on every stage of the float: drawing the sketch, the movements, the modelling and the painting. The official list is on the page of the allegorical floats.

The 2027 poster: Lavica, Zagara and Ionica

At the Notte dei Bozzetti, the Carnival’s art director, Marco Marcellino, also presented the official 2027 poster. The image reinterprets a historic 1950s poster: instead of the Commedia dell’Arte figures there are the three mascots Lavica, Zagara and Ionica, the Faraglioni of Aci Trezza become their headdresses and the Castle of Aci turns into the hat of the great Baroque mask. «The territory is not simply the backdrop to Carnival: it becomes Carnival».

The three mascots tell of a carnival that lives all year round: Lavica in winter, with the power of the volcano; Zagara in spring, with the Festa dei Fiori and the flower floats; Ionica in summer, with the Carnevale Estivo.

The town circuit

The parades take place along the circuit adopted in the early 1980s, through Corso Italia, Corso Savoia, Corso Umberto and Piazza Duomo, in the heart of Acireale’s Baroque centre. Access is through controlled gates at the ticket offices. The map and regulations are on the page of the town circuit.

2027 dates

Dates to be confirmed. The 2027 programme page on the official website is already online, but the calendar of masked parades has not yet been published.