The allegorical float parade held on 15 March in the area between Parco Catullo and the port transformed the town centre into a festive stage with music and dance
This year’s Peschiera del Garda carnival was a packed local event which showcased its unique lake landscape. Shrove Tuesday fell on 17 February but Peschiera’s people kept up its historic tradition of extending the festivities beyond its usual time frame, making the middle of March its key event. This enabled it to take place in a milder climate, ideal for the large numbers of visitors who crowded onto the lakeside promenade to admire the spectacle of its masks and colours. The event most eagerly awaited by the community and its tourists was definitely the wonderful allegorical float parade held on Sunday 15 March, making the town centre’s streets into a veritable open-air theatre to the tune of music and breathtaking choreographies. The official programme involved the figures and masks gathering at 2 pm on Via Parco Catullo, with the parade beginning half an hour later. The route designed by the organisers was an attractive loop which took in the town’s most iconic sites. It crossed Ponte San Giovanni before enthusiastically continuing along Riviera Carducci and Via Verdi, and then panoramic Lungolago Mazzini and ending its evocative journey at the port. It was completely free of charge for participants, a conscious choice which underlined the local council’s decision to open it up to all local people and visitors. It was not simply a fleeting moment of fun but the precious outcome of many months of hard work by artisans, float makers and volunteers, keeping alive a tradition which is fundamental to Lake Garda’s local culture and identity.
