Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Schignano - for centuries the people here have celebrated the end of winter with an archaic, wild carnival. In the streets of the mountain village high above Lake Como, the "Belli" dance against the "Brutti" - the beautiful and rich against the ugly and poor.
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Once a year, the residents of the municipality of Schignano shed their identities and don colorful homemade costumes and wild wooden masks to celebrate an unbridled carnival. Battista, a long-established, famous mask carver in the region, explains the costumes, "The beautiful one is the one who has traveled the world and come into money. His belly represents wealth, he wears lavish jewelry, big flowery hats, makes himself important and pretends to be arrogant. The ugly one is the exact opposite - he symbolizes a bad lifestyle, drinks a lot and wears tattered clothes. He is full of anger toward the beautiful and the rich." All year, Battista's wife is busy sewing and embroidering the garish costumes - and hopes, like everyone here, that Carnival will live on in the future.
This is an excerpt from "Schignano, an ancient carnival in Italy's mountains" (360° GEO - Reportage).
Click here for the documentary in full length (in German): youtu.be/UBhl_XT1ixY
Schignano - for centuries the people here have celebrated the end of winter with an archaic, wild carnival. In the streets of the mountain village high above Lake Como, the "Belli" dance against the "Brutti" - the beautiful and rich against the ugly and poor.
Subscribe to our channel: goo.gl/CMNyXt
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/wocomo
Once a year, the residents of the municipality of Schignano shed their identities and don colorful homemade costumes and wild wooden masks to celebrate an unbridled carnival. Battista, a long-established, famous mask carver in the region, explains the costumes, "The beautiful one is the one who has traveled the world and come into money. His belly represents wealth, he wears lavish jewelry, big flowery hats, makes himself important and pretends to be arrogant. The ugly one is the exact opposite - he symbolizes a bad lifestyle, drinks a lot and wears tattered clothes. He is full of anger toward the beautiful and the rich." All year, Battista's wife is busy sewing and embroidering the garish costumes - and hopes, like everyone here, that Carnival will live on in the future.
This is an excerpt from "Schignano, an ancient carnival in Italy's mountains" (360° GEO - Reportage).
Click here for the documentary in full length (in German): youtu.be/UBhl_XT1ixY
