<P> The Battle of the Oranges is a festival in the Northern Italian city of Ivrea, which includes a tradition of throwing of oranges between organized groups . It is the largest food fight in Italy . </P> <P> The festival's origins are somewhat unclear . A popular account has it that it commemorates the city's defiance against the city's tyrant, who is either a member of the Ranieri family or a conflation of the 12th - century Ranieri di Biandrate and the 13th - century Marquis William VII of Montferrat . This tyrant attempted to rape a young commoner (often specified as a miller's daughter) on the eve of her wedding, supposedly exercising the droit du seigneur . The tyrant's plan backfired when the young woman instead decapitated him, after which the populace stormed and burned the palace . Each year, a young girl is chosen to play the part of Violetta, the defiant young woman . </P> <P> Every year the citizens remember their liberation with the Battle of the Oranges, where teams of aranceri (orange handlers) on foot throw oranges (representing old weapons and stones) against aranceri riding in carts (representing the tyrant's ranks). During the 19th - century French occupation of Italy, the Carnival of Ivrea was modified to add representatives of the French army . Another adaptation of the story has the oranges used to symbolize the removed testicles of the tyrant . </P>

When did the battle of the oranges start
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