The Viareggio Carnival Summer Shows are back with three unmissable events!
From the award-winning floats coming to life once again at the Cittadella del Carnevale, to the giant papier-mâché puppet parade winding its way through the tree-lined avenues of the Pineta, and the traditional, eagerly awaited Night of The Sketches, offering a first glimpse of the 2027 Viareggio Carnival.
25 July – Award-Winning Floats Show at the Cittadella del Carnevale. from 9pm
The event kicks off on Saturday 25 July at the Cittadella del Carnevale, with the return of the allegorical floats that took the top spots in last year’s competition: La gallina dalle uova d’oro by Alessandro Avanzini, I samurai del potere by Luigi Bonetti, the winning float In bocca al lupo by Luca Bertozzi, and the second-place winner in the second category, Native American Return by Fabrizio and Valentina Galli. From 9 pm, the large papier-mâché sculptures will come to life with lights, movement and choreography in a show that will draw the audience into the very heart of its Carnival creative workshop.
Before the show, the evening will kick off with jugglers, musicians, games and attractions for the whole family, and will be enlivened by music from the Filarmonica Versilia, the Carnival band and the Pedrasamba, who will accompany Burlamacco and Ondina in the Carnival square.
1 August – Papier-mâché puppet parade in the Pineta from 5pm
The second event takes place on Saturday 1 August, from 5 pm, in the Pineta di Ponente, where the group processions and individual masks from the 2026 edition will once again parade along Viale Cadorna and Viale Capponi. They will be accompanied by marching bands, the official Burlamacco and Ondina masks, and the masks representing the city’s districts, for a festive afternoon surrounded by greenery, which will bring the atmosphere of Carnival back to one of the city’s iconic locations.
10 August – The Night of the Sketches for the 2027 Viareggio Carnival
On Monday 10 August, as is traditional, the Cittadella del Carnevale will host the Notte dei Bozzetti, the event dedicated to the presentation of the designs for the floats that will take part in the 2027 Viareggio Carnival. The papier-mâché artists will take to the stage to reveal to the public the visions and themes of the upcoming edition, in a show featuring choreography, costumes, music and projections.
Admission to all events is free. To coincide with the events at the Cittadella, the Carnival Museum will remain open to the public from 8 pm until midnight.