Carnevale di Molare

Why it's special

Each year the Oratorio builds one float on a theme and invites the whole village to dress up to match it (Minions in 2025, jellyfish in 2026). After Molare's own parade the float goes on tour to the carnivals of Bistagno and Acqui Terme.

Programme · 2026

Theme 'Le meduse' (jellyfish), organised by the Oratorio Giovanni XXIII; residents could join the masked group matching the float's theme.

• The float and groups gather in Piazza Marconi in the early afternoon (14:30 in 2024) and the parade starts soon after.
• If you want to join in costume, the Oratorio publishes the theme and a contact number a couple of weeks before.
• Bad weather can postpone it, as happened in 2024.
• The same float then appears at the Bistagno carnival and at the Carnevale Acquese in Acqui Terme.

Molare has kept its own carnival going for more than four decades. It's organised by the Oratorio Giovanni XXIII, the parish youth centre, which every winter builds a float on a theme and invites the village to dress up to match: in 2025 the float was Gru's car from the Minions films, followed by adults, teenagers and children dressed as Minions, and in 2026 it was jellyfish.

On the day, usually a Sunday afternoon in February, the float and the masked groups gather in Piazza Marconi and parade through the village. It's a small, local carnival rather than a big show.

The float doesn't stop at Molare. In recent years the Oratorio has taken it to the Shrove Tuesday parade in Bistagno and to the Carnevale Acquese in Acqui Terme, which is the bigger day out if you want floats from a whole string of villages.