Ivrea

Ivrea is a small town, with a population of slightly over 20,000 people, located in the Piemonte region of northwestern Italy. Through the 20th century its primary claim to fame was as the base of operations for Olivetti, a once well-known manufacturer of typewriters, mechanical calculators and, later, computers. The company no longer has an independent existence, though its name still appears as a registered trademark on office equipment manufactured by others.

Related Topics:
Piemonte - Italy - 20th century - Olivetti - Typewriter - Calculator - Computer

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The town first appears in history as a cavalry station of the army of the Roman Empire, set to guard one of the traditional invasion routes into northern Italy over the Alps. The Latin name of the town, Eporedia, (meaning: "place to change horses") has long since vanished into the mists of time, but still appears as the root of the name of the town residents, who are known as "eporediesi" in Italian and as "Eporedians" in English.

Related Topics:
Roman Empire - Alps - Latin - Eporedia - Italian - English

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Though the town has played an interesting subsidiary role in Italian history, it is today best known for its peculiar traditional carnival, whose core celebration is based on a locally famous "battle of the oranges." This involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into combat teams, who throw oranges at each other—with considerable violence—in rather disorganized battles lasting over several days.

Related Topics:
Carnival - Orange

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One of the citizens is elected Mugnaia. It is considered a title of honor. At least by some. The legend has that a millers daughter (a "Mugnaia") once refused to accept the "right" of the local hier to spend a night with each newly wed woman & chopped his head off. Today the carriages represent the hiers guard the the orange throwers the revolutionaries. Spectators are not allowed to throw oranges. If they carry a red hat they are considered part of the revolutionaries and will not suffer having oranges deliberately thrown at them.

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Before oranges were thrown they used some kind of friut or beans. Later oranges came to represent the hier's chopped off head. The origin of the tradition to throw oranges is not well understood, particularly as oranges do not grow in the foothills of the Italian Alps and must be imported from the Sicily at considerable cost. In 1994 an estimate of 265.000 kilo of oranges were brought to the city. The cathedral houses the tomb of Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy.

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A modern development has solidly established Ivrea on the design circuit with the arrival of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, located in the old Olivetti research building—the "blue" building. Although a small school, it has attracted international prominence because of the stellar reputation of its faculty and high-quality students. Both students and faculty are eclectic, mostly from outside of Italy. See their website: http://www.interaction-ivrea.it

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