Carnevale dei Crapòn

A unique carnival in Valvarrone

Sueglio is a small village in Valvarrone, part of the municipality of Valvarrone in the province of Lecco, overlooking a terrace with a view of Lake Como. Here, an ancient and original carnival survives, the Carnevale dei Crapòn, recognized as intangible cultural heritage of Lombardy through the REIL Register (Register of Intangible Heritages of Lombardy).

The Crapòn and the Doppi

The masks are the protagonists. The Crapòn are enormous heads made of plastic or aluminum and covered in papier-mâché, molded and painted to have a grotesque and caricatured appearance. Alongside them are the Doppi: costumes partly composed of the person wearing them and partly of a puppet, built to create the illusion of who is carrying whom. It is a figurative repertoire that makes the Sueglio carnival immediately recognizable.

The parade and rituals

The carnival takes place on Fat Saturday, according to the Ambrosian rite of the Archdiocese of Milan. In the morning, the group of masks sets off and stops in various areas of the valley, accompanied by the music of clarinets, accordions, saxophones, drums, and trombones: houses and inns are visited, people dance and sing to the tunes of popular repertoire, involving anyone they meet. After lunch, the group returns to Sueglio's square, where the scarpasce, savory fritters from local cuisine, are distributed, and the party continues until the evening community dinner and the traditional burning of the Carnival King.

Memory of a valley

Also linked to the legend of the seven hermit brothers sent by Saint Ambrose to evangelize the valleys, the Carnevale dei Crapòn is much more than a masked festival: it is an identity rite that the small community of Valvarrone continues to preserve, in the heart of the Lecco mountains.