~ Italy ~The 2002 Carnevale di Venezia
runs from Feb. 3 to Feb. 12. |
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| Every February, Venice hosts one of Europe's biggest and most glamorous carnivals.
During the ten days before Ash Wednesday, the city comes alive with parties and masked balls in the many mansions and palaces. The atmosphere really picks up towards the end of the carnival with partying alongside the canals and on Shrove Tuesday fireworks light up the night sky bringing the carnival to a brilliant end.
The masked partygoers are what make the Venice Carnival one of the most romantic and traditional of Europe's big festivals. The tradition behind the Venice carnival is one of the many things that gives Venice its romantic aura. |
| There is an irony in the fact that the word "Carnevale" means "farewell to flesh" -in other words, preparation for the Lenten fast- for the Venetian Carnival became a byword for its sensuousness. Officially it ran from Boxing Day to Shrove Tuesday, but it proved such a money-spinner that gradually it occupied the better part of the year. Masks were de rigueur, lending the frisson of anonymity which encouraged outrageous behaviour. |
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A shocked Englishman, Francis Misson, witnessed the Carnival of 1688: "They are not satisfied with the ordinary Libertinism... the whole city is disguised. Vice and Vertue are never so well counterfeited. The place of St. Mark is fill'd with a Thousand sorts of Jack Puddings, Strangers and Courtesans come in Shoals from all part of Europe." |
| The Earl of Perth was equally shocked around 1790: "We saw in Scotland would be through downright madness: everybody is in mask, a thing of taffeta is put on the head which covers one's face to the nose." |
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The Carnival was revived in the 1970s for the same reason as the Wedding with the Sea: it brings in tourist cash. But the Venetian themselves take part in it, and while it lacks the license of the 18C, it is still an exciting time, given additional impetus by being limited to ten days before Lent. |
Music playing is ~ VIVALDI ~ Concert in B min for 4 violin
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