Trullo Carnival

A Carnival that belongs to the neighborhood

The Trullo Carnival is not an event built for tourists: it is a party that the neighborhood organizes for itself. We are in Municipio XI of Rome, in the Lazio Region, in a district born in the 1930s along the road to Fiumicino that has become one of the most vibrant social laboratories in the Roman suburbs in recent decades. Here, the Carnival is celebrated like it used to be: real confetti, homemade costumes, and a procession that travels through the streets where people actually live.

The heart of the festival: the Caterina Cicetti Gardens

The meeting point is the Caterina Cicetti square garden, recently redeveloped with playgrounds and green spaces, which has since become the open-air living room of Trullo. The masquerade parade starts and ends here, winding along via del Trullo, via di Monte Cucco, via di San Raffaele, viale Ventimiglia, and via Brugnato. A loop of just over a kilometer, easily walkable even for the smallest children and strollers.

Who participates

The procession usually gathers about a hundred people: groups of families, school classes, local volunteer associations, the historic Polisportiva Trullo on viale Ventimiglia—which over the years has added roller-skating initiatives to the parade—and neighborhood committees that handle decorations and snacks. There are no monumental floats like in Ronciglione or Poggio Mirteto: the value of the day lies in its local scale and spontaneous participation.

Trullo traditions

• Masks and confetti for everyone — free distribution along the route
• Face painting — the most requested activity for children, managed by volunteers
• Shared snack — frappe, castagnole, and drinks offered to families
• Street games — improvised tournaments and entertainment in the gardens
• Itinerant music — mobile sound systems and small bands accompanying the procession

Trullo, a neighborhood of poets and murals

Those who come to Trullo for the Carnival discover a neighborhood that, over the last fifteen years, has built a cultural identity recognized well beyond the Grande Raccordo Anulare. The Poeti der Trullo have filled the walls with anonymous verses, while local and international street artists have transformed facades and electrical boxes into an open-air gallery. The Carnival parade crosses these very streets: it is worth arriving half an hour early to walk around with your head held high.

An appointment for families

The morning schedule, the short route, and the total lack of cost make this Carnival one of the most suitable proposals for preschool and school-age children in the entire southwest area of Rome. No reservations or tickets are needed: just show up in costume. In case of bad weather, activities are traditionally moved to the shelter of the Trullo covered market, a solution already adopted in previous editions.

When it takes place

The date changes every year because it follows the mobile Carnival calendar: it can fall in February or early March, sometimes on a Saturday, sometimes on Shrove Tuesday in the late afternoon. It is advisable to check the notices from Municipio XI and Roma Capitale, which publish the calendar of local initiatives every year along with any bus route diversions affected by the procession.