The tradition of the float parade (first appearances) in Viareggio dates back to 1873 and the idea of a parade on Shrove Tuesday 1873 was born at the tables of the Caffè del Casino, inaugurated forty years earlier. At the end of the century, triumphal chariots appeared, real monuments, built of wood, scagliola and jute, modeled by sculptors and assembled by carpenters and blacksmiths who knew how to create extraordinary boats in Darsena, at the docks of the shipyards. The First World War led to a six-year lull in the war. The event resumed in 1921 and the floats marched along the two coastal roads. In 1921, the first official song was sung, known as “Coppa di Champagne”, the current carnival anthem, composed by musician Icilio Sadun with lyrics by Lelio Maffei. This year, even the floats came to life with music for the first time, as the band found a place on board the structure titled “The Wedding of Tonin di Burioby Guido Baroni, which depicted the wedding party in the courtyard of a farmhouse. Two years later, the Pierrot Chariot became the first mask to move the head and eyes. In 1925, the painter Antonio D’Arliano invented the tracing technique, which has since made colossal constructions possible. In 1930, Uberto Bonetti created Burlamacco: the mask symbol of Viareggio, which appeared on the 1931 poster accompanied by Ondina, the bathing symbol of the summer season. From the very beginning (1954), first the newly founded Rai and then Eurovision (1958) consecrated the great event and transported Viareggio and the carnival everywhere via the airwaves. Today, the Viareggio Carnival is an internationally renowned event. Every year between the end of January and the beginning of March, the mask courses, i.e. the parades of allegorical floats, take place, in which over hundreds of thousands of spectators take part. The last parade this year will take place on Saturday, February 25th.