The one in Ivrea is the oldest historical carnival in Italy whose primary rites of medieval origin have been handed down orally until 1808. The Ivrea Carnival is a unique event in which history and legend intertwine to give life to a great civic festival popular with a strong symbolic value, during which the community of Ivrea celebrates its capacity for self-determination recalling an episode of liberation from the tyranny of medieval memory. To make it famous all over the world is the spectacular Battle of the Oranges. At the Battle today more than 4000 shooters take part, divided into nine teams and over 50 horse drawn carriages for a total of about 5,000 people involved. The Battle lives on unwritten rules of chivalry shared by all the participants, which guarantee the general safety (apart from some inevitable black eye), and maintain the comparison on the level of a real "sporting" challenge.