Carnevale
About
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The world’s largest and most famous masked ball is Carnevale.
Venice’s pre-Lenten Carnevale had existed since the Middle Ages, but it came into its own in the 18th century. As the Venetian Republic slipped into terminal decline, the city’s pagan side began to emerge.
Carnevale became an outlet for all that had been prohibited for centuries by the strong and sober arm of the doge. Elaborate structures would be set up in piazza San Marco as stages for acrobats, tumblers, wrestlers and other performers. Masks served not only as an escape from the drabness of everyday life but to conceal the wearer’s identity – a useful ploy for nuns on the lam or slumming patricians.
The Napoleonic invasion in 1797 brought an end to the fun and games, and Carnevale was not resuscitated until the late 1970s. When it was reintroduced, it was predominantly with money-earning in mind: the city authorities and hoteliers’ association saw the potential, and today the heavily subsidised celebrations draw revellers from all over the world.
Carnevale fills Venetian hotels and coffers, and it also gives the locals a chance for fun and games. Visitors flock to piazza San Marco, where professional poseurs in ornate (and exorbitant) costumes occupy prime spots and wait for the world’s press photographers to immortalise them. Venetians, on the other hand, organise private masked and costumed celebrations, or gather in smaller squares: the 40xVenezia association is a social networking website created as a place where Venice's thirty- and forty-something professionals can can pool concerns and ideas.
The party starts ten days before martedì grasso (Shrove Tuesday), though plans are afoot to kick off the festivities even earlier. Tourist offices can provide full Carnevale programmes.
Venice’s pre-Lenten Carnevale had existed since the Middle Ages, but it came into its own in the 18th century. As the Venetian Republic slipped into terminal decline, the city’s pagan side began to emerge.
Carnevale became an outlet for all that had been prohibited for centuries by the strong and sober arm of the doge. Elaborate structures would be set up in piazza San Marco as stages for acrobats, tumblers, wrestlers and other performers. Masks served not only as an escape from the drabness of everyday life but to conceal the wearer’s identity – a useful ploy for nuns on the lam or slumming patricians.
The Napoleonic invasion in 1797 brought an end to the fun and games, and Carnevale was not resuscitated until the late 1970s. When it was reintroduced, it was predominantly with money-earning in mind: the city authorities and hoteliers’ association saw the potential, and today the heavily subsidised celebrations draw revellers from all over the world.
Carnevale fills Venetian hotels and coffers, and it also gives the locals a chance for fun and games. Visitors flock to piazza San Marco, where professional poseurs in ornate (and exorbitant) costumes occupy prime spots and wait for the world’s press photographers to immortalise them. Venetians, on the other hand, organise private masked and costumed celebrations, or gather in smaller squares: the 40xVenezia association is a social networking website created as a place where Venice's thirty- and forty-something professionals can can pool concerns and ideas.
The party starts ten days before martedì grasso (Shrove Tuesday), though plans are afoot to kick off the festivities even earlier. Tourist offices can provide full Carnevale programmes.