Editing Confetti (section)

==History==
Since the [[Middle Ages]], in [[northern Italy]] it was common usage for the participants of carnival parades to throw objects at the crowd, mostly mud balls, eggs, coins or fruit. These traditions are still present in some towns in different forms, such as the "Battle of the Oranges" in [[Ivrea]].

The throwing of objects at parades is well-documented in [[Milan]] from the 14th century. The nobles would throw candies and flowers during the parades, while dames threw eggshells filled with essences and perfumes. Lower-class people mocked the nobles by throwing rotten eggs, and battles among enemy factions or districts became common. In 1597, the city governor [[Juan Fernández de Velasco y Tovar, 5th Duke of Frías|Juan Fernández de Velasco y Tovar]] imposed a ban on egg-throwing and ''squittaroli'' (spraying liquids in the street)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQ1wBAAAQBAJ&q=Juan+Fern%C3%A1ndez+de+Velasco+confetti+ban&pg=PT85 |title=Wedding Bells and Chimney Sweeps « Bruce Montague |isbn=9781784180423 |access-date=2016-11-03|last1=Montague |first1=Bruce |date=July 2014 |publisher=John Blake }}</ref> along with other immoral behaviors. The custom disappeared for about a century, re-emerging in the 1700s in the form of thrown small candies, typically sugar-coated seeds. The seeds used were mostly [[coriander]], a common plant in the area: the Italian name for confetti is ''coriandoli'', from the name of the herb.<ref name="corriere2004">[http://milano.corriere.it/vivimilano/arte_e_cultura/articoli/2004/02_Febbraio/25/coriandoli.shtml] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703021847/http://milano.corriere.it/vivimilano/arte_e_cultura/articoli/2004/02_Febbraio/25/coriandoli.shtml|date=July 3, 2010}}</ref>

The candies were expensive, and the lower classes often used small [[chalk]] balls instead, called ''benis de gess'' (chalk candy). Those were officially defined as the only material allowed to be thrown during the parades in an edict by the Prefect of Milan in 1808, but the battles fought with them in the 1800s became too large and dangerous, with hundreds of people involved, leading to a ban of the chalk pellets. Some circumvented the ban by throwing balls of mud.<ref name="corriere2004"/>

In 1875, an Italian businessman from Milan, Enrico Mangili, began selling paper confetti for use in the upcoming ''carnevale di Milano'', the yearly parade held along the streets of the city. At that time, the province of Milan was one of the main hubs of silk manufacturing. Mangili begun collecting the small punched paper disks that were left as a byproduct from the production of the holed sheets used by the [[Bombyx mori|silkworm]] breeders as cage bedding, and selling them for profit. The new paper confetti was well received by the customers, being less harmful, cheaper and more entertaining than the alternatives, and their use quickly replaced previous customs in Milan and northern Italy.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

''[[Scientific American]]'' recorded that the throwing of paper confetti (in the form of plain shredded paper) occurred at the 1885 New Year's Eve in Paris. Paper confetti became common in all of Europe within the next two decades (unlike [[ticker-tape parade]], which never received as wide a diffusion as they did in the U.S.).