Pitocco is a term that indicates a poor person, but above all avaricious. A synonym, used in Ticino as in Lombardy and even in Emilia Romagna, is pi\u00f6cc, which stands for louse. But pitocco is a term that also occurs in great literature. During his journey to Bergamo, Renzo Tramaglino, the protagonist of Manzoni\u2019s Betrothed, thought that \u2018it would not be a good thing to present himself to his cousin (Bortolo) as a pitocco, and to say to him, as a first compliment: Give me something to eat.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not known why, during the Ambrosian carnival, King Pitoc reigns in Brissago. We know, however, that there would be no carnival without the Pitoc de Brisag, an association chaired by Davide Schlub. And we also know, thanks to historical evidence, that in Ticino the use of lighting a bonfire or burning a puppet at the close of the festivities has its roots in a remote past and dates back to the mid-1400s.\u00a0 And in Brissago this custom is still alive. When you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe hope to do it this year \u2013 says Schlub \u2013 because, between one thing and another, between wind and pandemic, we have not been able to burn the clown since 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be that as it may, mark the dates on your agenda, because from 15 to 18 February the carnival organized by I Pitoc de Brisag returns. Four days of celebrations for young and old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The programme opens on Thursday 15th with the children\u2019s carnival organised by the Magic Tree association in the school gymnasium, with various games and a mini-courtyard around the block. At 8.30 p.m., the keys will be handed over to King Pitoc \u2013 Miodrag Jankovic \u2013 and the Queen \u2013 Sabrina Minoggio. Then, at 9 pm a live concert with the group Vaskconplotto. Friday from 17 aperitif in the square and from 21 still live music. Afterwards, there will be a big party in the village, in the Anfrigola tent and in the bars that will remain open until 3 a.m. Saturday there will be the classic risotto and luganighe, at 2.30 pm the parade masked by the post at the Town Hall square. Next, there will be Guggen concerts \u2013 which this year will be five, some from beyond Gotthard \u2013 and music with RadioTicino's DJ Roxy. Sunday dumplings for all tastes, still music and at 15.30 the burning of the clown. The program is available on the website https:\/\/www.ipitocdibrissago.com\/programma<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike Pitoc, we focused more on daytime events \u2013 explains Schlub \u2013 leaving night management to other associations or locals. Also because organizing the carnival is challenging and we don't just do that. For us, summer festivals, such as those of Incella or Porbetto, or the fish festival, are also important.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n The carnival, however, remains one of the staples in the Pitoc calendar. \u201cBut it costs a lot \u2013 Schlub observes \u2013 especially in terms of security measures. This is also why we try to focus above all on an adult audience, and in this sense we have concentrated it in the square and involved the exhibitors. Younger people, of course, are welcome, provided they respect the rules of civil coexistence.\u201d <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Davide Schlub talks about the festivities that will begin on February 15th. And maybe this year we will be able to burn the clown...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brissago.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}