At Carnival, every joke is permitted — a license to transgress the normal rules of social conduct during the pre-Lenten festival. Used to justify pranks, disguises, mockery of authority, and behavior that would be unacceptable at other times of the year. Also deployed as a general excuse: 'it's just a joke.'
The Roman Carnival — held in the days before Ash Wednesday — was one of the most celebrated in Italy from the medieval period through the nineteenth century. The Corso (now Via del Corso, then called the Via Lata) was the site of horse races run without jockeys — the 'barberi' — and the streets were flooded with masked revelers, satirical floats, confetti, and 'gesso' (plaster dust) thrown at passersby. Popes who attempted to restrict Carnival found themselves mocked in pasquinate and caricatures. The philosophical underpinning of Carnival — the temporary inversion of hierarchy, the licensed transgression, the mask that allows truth-telling that is impossible unmasked — is deeply Roman in its pragmatism: the system acknowledges that social order requires a periodic release valve. 'A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale' is the popular formulation of this principle, used long after the actual carnival season to justify any mildly transgressive humor.
Rome's Carnival races on the Corso were abolished by Pope Pius IX in 1874, three years after Italian unification ended papal temporal power — one of the first acts by which the new secular state and the diminished papacy renegotiated the public use of Roman space, ending a tradition that had run continuously since at least the thirteenth century.
A Roman child defends an elaborate April Fool's prank using the Carnival proverb
Ho messo il sale nello zucchero del caffè di papà. A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale!
I put salt in dad's coffee sugar. At Carnival, every joke is permitted!
A Roman office colleague explains a prank to a humorless manager
Era solo uno scherzo — a Carnevale ogni scherzo vale. Non se la prenda.
It was just a joke — at Carnival, every joke is permitted. Don't take it personally.
A Roman comedian defends a satirical sketch about a politician
La satira politica è legittima in ogni stagione. Ma in questo periodo posso aggiungere: a Carnevale ogni scherzo vale.
Political satire is legitimate in every season. But in this period I can add: at Carnival, every joke is permitted.
A Roman grandmother reacts to being tricked by her grandchildren
Mi avete fatto uno scherzo? A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale — va bene. Ma aspettate la mia risposta.
You played a trick on me? At Carnival, every joke is permitted — all right. But wait for my response.