The Tuscany seaside town of Viareggio is famous for its carnival parades featuring huge paper mache' floats. Carnival, or carnevale, is celebrated all over Italy and Viareggio's parades make it the second largest and most popular festival (after Venice's carnevale), drawing more than a million visitors to the events.
Carnevale, Italy's mardi gras, is a festival held on Shrove Tuesday, 40 days before Easter, thus carnival dates vary. Viareggio's elaborate parade of giant, allegorical paper maché floats along the seafront promenade is held not only on Shrove Tuesday but also on the three Sundays before and two weekends following it.
