What’s up in Venice

CARNIVAL

Venetian Carnival is an event you can’t miss. It means transgression, culture, tradition, art and history.

In the past 

Carnival has its roots in Greek and Roman times, to the feasts related to the Cult of the Dionysus and to the Latin Saturnalia, celebrating the end of Winter. In Christianity it became a period of merrymaking before Lent fast.

In Venice Carnival began on Boxing Day, December 26, and reached its climax the day before Ash Wednesday. While it lasted, the law was for more or less held in abeyance: the wearing of masks and disguises abolished social divisions of the duration.

The 18th C. historian and art critic Marcel Brion left an interesting description of Carnival:

“The carnival opened on the first Sunday in October and went on until Lent. In other words, for six months every year the people abandoned their regular avocations, and, protected by the anonymity of the mask, threw themselves into the light- hearted pastimes which immediately became their main preoccupation”

The period of Carnival was rich in public festivities and private parties, street entertainments, shows and general merrymaking. Theatres were all involved to offer the richest programme in Europe.;

Today

In the last 20 years Carnival in Venice has been re-established and recreates the atmosphere of the glorious past.
Masks have reappeared, and 18th century garments and traditional costumes again mingle with other grotesque disguises. The old custom of giving balls and theatrical shows has been revived, along with an array of ancient Venetian games.

Every year a different a subject is chosen and the main events are tailor on this traditional main topic.
Residents and tourist both enjoy taking part and you can find a variety of events throughout the City, though the hub remains St. Mark’s Square.
The city teems with people wearing the most imaginative masks, happily crowding the streets and the Venetian campi (squares), having fun and trying to get noticed, maybe hoping to appear on the next-year calendar.

Coffee and pastry shops turn out freshly made Frittelle and Galani, the traditional sweets, symbols of the Venetian Carnival.

Masks. 
Mask-making was very popular in the past as it is today: the use of masks in Venice was so widespread that the mask-makers had their own official artisan status as early as the 15th cent.

Tabarro and Bauta: the Bauta was composed of a black silk hood and a lace cape; the costume was completed by a voluminous cloak (Tabarro) and a three-cornered hat. Wearing a bauta, a tabarro and a white mask covering most of the face, one could go anywhere completely incognito.

TEMPORARY EXHIBITS