Should you find yourself in a square in Bormio on the Sunday morning before Lent, you might well run into a group of Harlequins, apparently mad, in old-fashioned guise, enjoying staging an event involving the Mayor of the town.

It’s simply the current celebration of the ancient “Mayor of the Mad” renowned since the end of the 1440’s and than sadly abandoned for at least two and half centuries.

the modern spectacle still manages to capture the integral character of this splendid carnival madness.