The usual rain, cold and frost hold sway over the climate in February. What is more, the dragging on of forced isolation whose influence we are feeling again during this winter of 2022 makes our homes seem like the safest refuge. So, in the end, television is the cheapest form of entertainment there is for millions of Italians.
In this context, the month of February opens with the Festival di San Remo between February 1st and 5th. The conductor Amadeus wants to cheer us up, presenting a singing competition that includes former stars of light music (Gianni Morandi, Massimo Ranieri, Donatella Rettore and Iva Zanicchi) and young singers such as Mahmood or Rkomi: who knows who will win? … But whoever does, everyone will be talking of Sanremo obsessively, from the women’s outfits and the gossip to behind-the-scenes goings-on and the gaffes that usually enliven this great popular televised festival.
February is also carnival time: allegorical floats will parade through Viareggio in Versilia and Fano in Le Marche, and who knows whether even elsewhere people will manage to organize something funny? In Perugia, there is a carnival-like mask known as Bartoccio, a well-off peasant, wise but uncouth, who carries a large stick under his arm and, laughing and joking, irreverently attacks the powerful ruling class. As in ancient cultures, the clever farmer prepares the fields for planting, turns the soil and revitalizes the land, burning leaves and dry branches to begin to fertilize it.