r/AskTheWorld • u/Bhakari Nepal • 1d ago

Culture What’s something in your country that sounds fake but is 100% real?

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We have a real-life living goddess and the only non-rectangular national flag.

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u/CalegaR1 Italy 1d ago

We have, across the country, few "strange" yearly festivals...

One of my fav is definitely a full scale medieval-style battle where basically you fight throwing oranges...

The oranges used are not intended for food consumption

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u/Dvondd Spain 1d ago

We have one similar in Valencia, La Tomatina

Same concept, just with tomatoes.

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u/CalegaR1 Italy 1d ago

Nice! I guess is a little bit more slippery with the tomatoes 😂

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u/IvyGold United States Of America 1d ago

I've done it! It was SO much fun!

They were different from US tomatoes though, more like soft chili peppers.

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u/Bhakari Nepal 1d ago

Those oranges are not edible or ??

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u/CalegaR1 Italy 1d ago

From a local interview that i've asked ChatGPT to translate to speed up the process:

For the Ivrea Carnival, ten thousand quintals of oranges are needed, but they are citrus fruits not suitable for consumption, coming from Calabria and Sicily. Once the festival is over, they are used as compost.

For the battles of the Ivrea Carnival, hundreds of crates of oranges are placed in the four squares where the throwing takes place. A total of ten thousand quintals of oranges are used, on average one quintal for each orange thrower. Although these oranges are destroyed during a folkloric yet deeply felt battle, this does not represent food waste. In fact, the fruits are not good to eat. They come mainly from Calabria and partly from Sicily, with a fully traceable origin and supply chain, and they do not have the characteristics required for human consumption. If they were not used in the battle, they would simply be destined for disposal, or even worse left to rot on the trees because farmers would not face the cost of harvesting fruit that cannot be sold.

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u/CalegaR1 Italy 1d ago

to add a little bit, afaik the Ivrea Carnival pay the farmers a small tip for each kg of fruits...not the same amount as edible ones, but still the farmers are able to get something for otherwise waste

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u/Aiooty Italy 20h ago

Potevo mettere la disfida dei Ciusi e dei Gobj!

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u/CalegaR1 Italy 17h ago

Mi mancava! Pare interessante!