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Papà del Gnoco 2009

Carnival finished last Tuesday the 24th and like every year I attended  the parade on Friday. As you might know the last Friday of carnival in Verona is called “Venerdì Gnocolar” (Gnocchi’s Friday) with a famous parade and when it’s a must to eat gnocchi. The lucky ones can enjoy them at home those at work can find them at a bar or  restaurant. Schools are closed so the little ones can participate in the event. Early in the afternoon a big parade starts from Corso Porta Nuova and crosses the center of the city ending up in Piazza San Zeno. Music bands, majorettes, decorated floats cheerfully entertain the public until late evening.

The king of our carnival parade is Papà del Gnoco (father of the gnocchi) and instead of a scepter he carries a huge fork topped by a big gnocchi. He’s a real institution and has a costume of antique origins. His clothes – there are at least  different sizes depending on the papà del gnocco’s build – are made by Casa d’arte Fiore in Milan, famous for  making costumes for the main opera houses and theaters. It’s a complicated costume to make with many allegorical meanings like the hat that has the shape of a decorated gazebo to symbolize the stand built in Piazza San Zeno where gnocchi were distributed each year to the population. Papà del gnocco as many other historical figures are elected each year by the population. Papà del gnocco was originally elected only by the residents of the San Zeno area, but now can be elected by all the Veronese in San Zeno square a month before carnival.

The Veronese carnival dates back to 1531 and it’s considered one of the oldest one in Italy. It all started when grain prices raised due to a long famine and the poor of the old San Zeno area assaulted the bakers and stole all their bread. To stop the rebellion a wealthy group of Veronese fed the poor. Tradition says that among these benefactors there was Tommaso Da Vico who is considered the one who reinstated or actually created the tradition named “Baccanal del Gnocco” donating bread, wine, butter, flour and cheese on the last Friday of carnival. In his will Da Vico left an order to feed the people of San Zeno area of Verona.

I watched the whole parade this year and I had a wonderful lunch at my parents’ house. They prepared  homemade gnocchi flavored with different sauces: gnocchi with butter and sage, tomato sauce, pesto and bolognese sauce not to mention the sweets. My mom prepared my favorite carnival sweet “crema fritta”, fried custard a real delight. It’s a  famous Veronese dessert that you can always find in Piazza Erbe, sold still hot. I’ve always thought that it was difficult to prepare, but luckily it’s not, it only takes a little bit of effort while mixing the cream. She also made polenta and ricotta frittelle and they were a hit too. Now carnival is over  and also my glorious days of carnival sweets, however I’m not ready to give up gnocchi yet.

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