It might be the world’s most sophisticated food fight.

From March 2-4 during the northern Italian town of Ivrea’s Annual Carnival, the small medieval burg’s 25,000 or so residents form battalions, don ornate uniforms and engage in fierce street combat to the beat of kettle drums.

But the combatants are wielding a decidedly strange weapon of choice: millions of fresh oranges.

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According to The New York Times, like many carnival traditions, the "Battle of the Oranges: re-enacts a piece of history – in this case, a legendary rebellion in the 12th century. But while these days the streets of Ivrea run orange with pulp, the tradition harkens back to a time when it is likely that the streets ran red with blood, the Huffington Post reports.

As the story goes, the original rebellion was sparked by a violent act by a young commoner named Violetta. After a nefarious Marquis tried to steal her virtue on the eve of her wedding, Violetta cut off his head to free the town from tyranny, SBS.com reports. The town’s oppressed citizens took a cue from their heroine and marched on the castle, burning it to the ground.

These days, the unfortunate Marquis’ head is represented by oranges; the juice, his blood.

But despite the macabre symbolism, the ‘battle’ is more fun than ferocious.

The town’s five battleground piazzas are divided into nine teams of "throwers" who go up against their (heavily-padded) adversaries who patrol the "castle’: in carts. The throwers bombard oranges towards their enemy, littering the ground with pulpy gore. More than a million oranges from Sicily and Calabria meet their demise in the crossfire.

Oranges aren't the only casualties. The whole event ends with the losers licking their wounds and a sad mock funeral for those unfortunate souls who had the life squeezed out of them during battle.

Orange you glad that we have Mardis Gras instead?

Members of orange battle teams throw oranges at each other during the traditional 'battle of the oranges' held during the carnival in Ivrea. (Guiseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)