Monaco-Ville will host this year’s edition of U Sciaratu, the city’s traditional summer carnival, on Friday 3rd July, with the Mairie de Monaco organising the event around the theme of ‘Fantastic Beasts’.
The free, open-access celebration will see the Rock’s narrow streets filled with travelling performances, acrobatic acts, face-painting workshops, balloon sculptors, popcorn and candy floss stalls and other entertainment from 6.30pm until 11.30pm, with a DJ-led ball taking over Place de la Mairie from 10pm.
The event takes its name from the Monegasque word for “uproar” or “racket”, and traces its origins back centuries to Monaco’s pre-Lenten carnival season, when residents of the Rock would dress in costume, often with women dressed as men and men as women, and young people would parade a straw-and-rag effigy known as “u payassu” through the streets before burning it on a terrace of the Palace. In the post-war years the carnival continued in winter on the Rock, though scaled back to three days, with youths known as “i mufi” tossing the same effigy into the air before it was hanged and burned in Place de la Mairie on Mardi Gras.
The Roca-Club later revived the tradition, adding floats and marching bands to the procession, and it was at this stage that “u sciaratu” itself, in the form of a carnival king parading on a float, took centre stage. The event’s growing popularity eventually prompted organisers to move the parade to summer, allowing greater numbers of both residents and tourists to take part, giving rise to the modern open-air format now held every July.
A different theme each year
U Sciaratu has built a following by pairing its fixed format, street performance, children’s workshops and an evening ball, with a new theme each year. The 2025 edition was themed around pirates and princesses, while 2024’s carnival paid tribute to America, with performers staging a pirate-camp scene in Place du Palais and mock battles between corsairs and cabin boys through the Rock’s lanes, drawing dozens of costumed children up to Monaco-Ville with their parents. Floats, once a central feature of the parade, were withdrawn from the event following an accident in 2022, with the subsequent legal proceedings later closed without further action, though this has not dampened attendance or enthusiasm for the carnival’s other entertainment.
This year’s ‘Fantastic Beasts’ theme continues that tradition, with the Mairie once again positioning the carnival as a free, family-friendly highlight of Monaco’s summer calendar.
Practical information
U Sciaratu takes place in Monaco-Ville on Friday 3rd July, from 6.30pm to 11.30pm, with the ball on Place de la Mairie running from 10pm. Access is free and open to all. For further information or details on accessibility for people with reduced mobility, the Mairie de Monaco can be contacted on +377 93 15 06 03.
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