Historical Carnival of the Coumba Freida – Gignod

The most unusual carnival in the Aosta Valley

The Historical Carnival of the Coumba Freida (the "cold valley", i.e., the Great St Bernard Valley) is one of the most fascinating in Italy. In Gignod, a municipality along the road to the Great St Bernard Pass in the Aosta Valley Region, the absolute protagonists are the landzette, masks with vibrant costumes that parade from village to village.

The legend of Napoleon

Tradition links the birth of the carnival to the passage of Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops through the Great St Bernard Pass in the spring of 1800. The landzette costumes are said to be an allegorical and popular interpretation of the French soldiers' uniforms, reinvented with the colours and symbols of alpine peasant culture.

The symbols of the masks

• the dominant red, a symbol of strength and protection from evil spells;
• the mirrors sewn onto the costumes, to ward off evil spirits;
• the mule tails, representing the winds;
• the figure of the bear, which announces the arrival of spring.

The rite from hamlet to hamlet

For days, the landzette travel through the numerous hamlets of Gignod — from Excenex to Arpuilles, from Variney to Seyssinod and Meylan — entering homes, dancing, and bringing joy and good wishes to the inhabitants. It is a rite of passage that banishes winter and ushers in the good season, experienced with great participation by the entire community.

The burning of the carnival

The climax arrives on Shrove Tuesday, with the evening of dancing and the burning of the carnival at midnight, a symbolic gesture that closes the celebrations and marks the farewell to winter.