70 Injured In Italian Orange Fight

Oranges are not the smallest, lightest, or softest fruit in the world, and when it comes time to choose a fruit to throw at another person, they're a pretty bad choice if one doesn't intend to actually hurt someone. 70 people in Italy learned that the hard way this weekend after being injured by flying citrus during an annual fruit fight.

Oranges are nutritious and high in vitamin C, but they also hurt a lot when they're used as projectile weapons. In spite of that and some nasty, rainy weather, more than 7,000 people showed up  at the Piedmont town of Ivrea in Italy to dress up in medieval costumes and throw oranges at each other for the annual "Battle of the Oranges." The event happens every year, and this year nearly 600,000 pounds of oranges were imported from Sicily just for the purpose of throwing them at people.

According to The Local, 70 combatants were hit too hard with oranges and had to be treated for injuries, but that's actually a significant reduction from last year, when 142 people were injured by fruit. This year 7,000 people reportedly paid for the privilege of taking part in the orange fight, while 16,000 people who thought the orange battle sounded like a cool idea but did not want to get hit with oranges just bought spectator tickets and stood on the sidelines to watch and drink mulled wine.