The story
Il-Karnival ta' Malta in Valletta/Floriana/Gozo
Il-Karnival ta' Malta is Malta's national Carnival, held in the days before Ash Wednesday each February or March, with roots tracing back to 1535 under Grand Master Piero de Ponte. Centered on Valletta and neighboring Floriana, with a distinct parallel celebration on the island of Gozo, it features parades of elaborately decorated floats, grotesque papier-mache masks, and competitive costumed dance troupes.
Every year in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, Malta stages one of the Mediterranean's most historically rooted Carnival celebrations, Il-Karnival ta' Malta, a tradition that Maltese historians trace back to 1535, when Grand Master Piero de Ponte of the Order of St John formally established Carnival festivities on the island, decades before Valletta itself was even founded as a fortified city in 1566.