We call them coriandoli, the rest of the world calls them “confetti,” but they are the same thing: those little colorful paper disks that cheerfully fill the air and the streets at Carnevale time in Italy, and in every festive occasion everywhere else. Indeed, while confetti are common in all types of celebrations abroad, Italian coriandoli are all for Carnevale. What not many may know, though, is that the habit of using coriandoli/confetti is an all-Italian invention.
During the Renaissance, people used to celebrate Carnevale parades by throwing flowers, oranges and egg shells filled with essences to one another: it was fun and it fit well into the whole “let’s be jolly” atmosphere of the event. Needless to say, it was also an enormous waste of food. 16th century Florentine botanist Giovanvettorio Soderini was the first to mention an important change in the practice, that of using sugared coriander (coriandolo in Italian) seeds instead of more expensive food stuff. These little candies took the name of the seeds they were made of, and became known as coriandoli. The original coriandoli belong to the candy category of confetti (a candy usually covered with a sugar shell) which is the way we call coriandoli in English. So we can say that the English confetti come from Italy, too.
Coriandoli used to be candies people would throw during Carnevale parades in the glorious days of our Renaissance, but what’s the story with the paper disks we use today?
Well, while certainly cheaper than flowers and oranges, sugared coriander seeds were pretty expensive, too, and not everyone could afford to waste so many for a day of street gaiety. So in later decades, sugar was substituted with colored plaster. Some actually say that the seeds were eliminated completely and that coriandoli were, for a while, just tiny, colorful plaster balls. But if we want to finally meet modern coriandoli/confetti, we need to fast forward to the late 19th century: it was 1876 when young Ettore Fenderl from Trieste, in an attempt to save extra money, decided to cut out some paper and to use that instead of the more expensive plaster coriandoli. In truth, it was to emerge, Ettore wasn’t the first one to think of it: one year earlier, Enrico Mangili of Crescenzago, near Milan, had used paper cut outs left over from silkworm farming as coriandoli.
But where did the Italians get the habit of throwing small things at each other during celebrations? Well, in fact, it’s a tradition we inherited from the ancient Greeks, who would throw leaves and flower petals to victorious athletes, war heroes, newlyweds and also during funerary parades. The habit is well documented in western culture, but the reasons behind it aren’t as clear: some anthropologists believe it was a symbolic way for the masses to participate to triumphal marches with their heroes, flowers and leaves being the symbol of gifts. Others, on the other hand, prefer a more esoteric explanation, stressing the magical powers of plants and flowers in ancient Mediterranean civilizations and also later, well into the Middle Ages.
It’s clear that coriandoli/confetti are a very Italian invention, with deep Mediterranean roots. To be fair, in Europe coriandoli are really a whole-Italian affair even when it comes to their production. The home of coriandoli is in Porcellengo di Paese, just outside Treviso, where Mr. Franco Carnevale (yes, that’s his name!) has been making them since 1982. He explains how, to make good coriandoli, you must “mix two different kinds of paper. We use only old movie posters coming from two Roman typographies, because we know they are good quality. To that, we add specially made paper in colors like pink, green and purple…not too bright, so they are cheaper…” Mr. Carnevale sells his coriandoli all over Europe; production goes strong from September to the end of the Italian Carnevale, with the rest of the year being spent planning, organizing and bookkeeping.
Donate 