Venice Hotel / Venice Carnival
Venice Carnival
John Evelyn wrote of the 1646 Carnevale: “all the world was in Venice to see the folly and madness . . . the women, men and persons of all conditions disguising themselves in antique dresses, & extravagant Musique & a thousand gambols.” Not much is different in today’s Carnevale, for which people arrive in such numbers that the causeway from the mainland has sometimes had to be closed because the city has been too packed.
Carnevale takes place over the ten days leading up to Lent, finishing on Shrove Tuesday with a masked ball for the glitterati, and dancing in the Piazza for the plebs. During the day people don costumes and go down to the Piazza to be photographed; parents dress up their kids; businessmen can be seen doing their shopping in the classic white mask, black cloak and tricorne hat. In the evening some congregate in the remoter squares, while those who have spent hundreds of euros on their costumes install themselves in the windows of Florian’ s and pose for a while.
But you don’t need to spend money or try to be “traditional” in your disguise: a simple black outfit and a painted face is enough to transform you from a spectator into a participant.