HUNDREDS of Italians celebrated their heritage with a carnival.
The event at the Calvary Church in Brighton aimed to re-create a traditional Italian festival , called Carnevale, and share the experience with children born in the UK to Italian parents.
The Italian celebrations are lesser known than that of the Brazilian carnival but there are similarities. They are also celebrated 40 days before Easter as a final party before Ash Wednesday and the restrictions of Lent. In Italy the celebration began yesterday with parades, music, traditional food, parties and other entertainment until next week.
Some 33 families, including 48 children, took part in the event with the youngsters dressing up as their favourite fictional characters, including computer game legends the Super Mario brothers Mario and Luigi.
Mother-of-four Marcella Todaro, who organised the event, said: "It went really well and people had only heard about it through word of mouth. We wanted our children who have not grown up in Italian to experience the traditions. We hope to have even more people taking part next year."
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