BATTLE OF THE ORANGES

Each year in the days preceding Fat Tuesday, townspeople of Ivrea divide up into nine different squads, dressed in battle attire, and over the course of the next three days engage in fearless orange battles, attempting to “kill” the other teams.
The origins of this event are tied to a tale where an evil marquis, who attempted to rape a young woman in the town, was instead decapitated by the woman. In the aftermath of his death, the townspeople stormed his palace in revolt. It is this revolt, which is symbolized by the Battle of the Oranges every year and the marquis slayer, the Mugnaia, appears in the first act and opens the festival.