Venice is always amazing, but during Carnival it’s just something that is worthy seeing at least one time in life.
The celebration has officially started with the first Venetian Night, where a joyful procession of decorated boats, baloons and tricks of light have crossed the Canal Grande.
Colors, costumes, masks, cheerful processions of smiling people: that’s what you can see if you decide to visit Venice in these weeks.
We decided to give you a taste of that, spending our Sunday in the streets of the city, peeking at the shop windows and enjoying the marvellous sight of elegant ladies and gentlemen wrapped in expesive brocades, refined cloth and long cloaks.
Our walk begins from Santa Lucia station, where we decide to take one of the shortcuts to reach Saint Mark Square: crossing the Bridge of Constitution, we passed in front of Campo San Barnaba and we decided to continue along Ponte dell’Accademia.
From there, it was easy to go always straight and we finally arrived at destination. While walking, we saw a lot of people with fancy and luxurious masks and dresses. Tourists were crowding around them, trying to take pictures together. This is part of the Venetian Carnival. Posing with them for a pic means being part of the secular tradition and, why not, feeling like an inhabitant of Venice itself.
The heart of Carnival is obviously in Saint Mark. Here there is even a stage, where shows and events will take place in these days, but the real magic is walking surrounded by shapes of colors and swishes of dresses, fancy wigs and eccentric makeup.
Of course, the flow of people in this period is huge, and sometimes is really hard to pass through the narrow passages and calli because of the mass of people crowding in them. But don’t let this discourage you: Venice is something that has to be enjoyed.
Patience and relax have to be your friends while visiting Venice in this period, don’t be in rush and keep calm even when the situation begins to get chaotic. We hope you could have a wonderful time! Happy Carnival!
Post by Elisa Gentile
