Winter in Venice is usually a quiet time. The jostling crowds have gone, the canals have lost some of their pungency, and the very air is cold. Yet, for a week every February, this wintry calm is shattered. For this is the week of the Venice Carnival. An old tradition revived in the 1970s, the Carnival is an excuse to dress up in all manner of finery and party.
Extravagantly robed and masked figures - some jovial, some slightly sinister, all mysterious - glide down alleyways and across squares, elevating the passeggiata (that very Mediterranean stroll, where the main aim is not so much to see but to be seen) to an art form. Not for nothing did the London Times put the Venetian Carnival in its top six European carnivals in 2007.
Origins of the Venice Carnival
The original Carnival was a much bigger and rowdier affair than today's, complete with fights and bear-baiting, bull-fights and secret assignations in gondolas. According to the traveler Francis Misson who visited Venice in 1688: "Vice and virtue were never so well counterfeited. There is everywhere a general motion and confusion, as if the world were turn'd fools in an instant."
In its heyday, the Carnival lasted from Christmas until Shrove Tuesday. Events officially began when a government official gave permission for people of all ranks to wear masks. For what was a highly stratified and rigid society, it was an unusually egalitarian holiday, as masks were worn by everyone: noblemen and beggars, courtesans and priests, and no-one - in theory, at least - was any the wiser.
As for the costumes, the more flamboyant, the better. The crowds in St. Mark's Square routinely comprised Cossacks and Barbary pirates, Chinese mandarins and characters from the commedia dell'arte. This aspect of the Carnival has survived to the present day, with the majority of events requiring a costume. Every winter local businesses do a brisk business hiring out colorful costumes and masks.
A Modern Winter Festival
Interest in the Carnival declined during the nineteenth century, mirroring the decline of Venice herself. The city's days as Mistress of the Seas were over, and, for a while, the Carnival was also consigned to history. Yet history is never completely dead in Venice, and a series of successful mini-festivals led to a revival of the Carnival.
The 2010 Venice Carnival will take place from February 6 to February 16, and will include costumed and masked balls and dances in honor of such figures as Mozart and Casanova and Saint Valentine. While it is unlikely that the modern carnival will approach the excesses of the past, Venice knows how to put on a good party. The city's population often doubles during this period, and the authorities have been known to close the causeway to the mainland when the city becomes too crowded.
When it's all over, the crowds go home and winter reclaims the city. La Serenissima, the Most Serene, is serene once more.
Paris Franz - Paris Franz is a London-based freelance journalist, specialising in the arts, history and travel.
