The Salinas' and Sophie in Sicily: Carnevale

Yesterday we went to Carnevale in Aci Reale- the 2nd largest mardi gras festival in Italy, the most famous is Carnevale in Venice. It was crazy!! Everyone carries confetti and silly string and throw it in the faces of random strangers. Most of the adults will toss it at you and smile, but some of those damn kids with chuck handfuls of confetti right in your face! Most of the children are dressed in costumes, and some of the adults. Almost everyone wore masks or hats or something silly. The main attractions are the giant floats. Half are made of fresh flowers, and the others paper mache. They spend the night circling the main streets in a parade. Each float has it's own DJ and most have performers or dancers that perform on it or in front of it. We though the music was so funny- some Italian pop music, but a lot of American music!

The streets were lined with vendors selling toys, balloons, masks, and all kinds of food and sweets. We enjoyed some delicious Italian street meat sandwiches with crispelli- Italian fried dough with honey and pistachio's for desert.