The Carnival of Venice finds its raison d’être only when one gets to the centre of the action, which is Piazza San Marco. No other place can include as much as it does the very essence of a collective celebration.
There’s no comparing the unparalleled beauty of the Piazza with anything else in the world.This year, St Mark’s is undergoing maintenance, which is necessary to preserve it. This means that there will be many Carnival events all around town, to ease the stress on the Piazza. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go, though: you would never want to miss a cup of hot cocoa at Florian’s. Wear your best vintage costume and find yourself a patron of the most famous coffee house of the eighteenth century! No studio set is necessary: it is all right there where you expect it.
The stage in Piazza San Marco, with its theme inspired by Marco Polo’s travels to the Orient, will turn into a runway of creativity for the most beautiful and elaborate masks and costumes. A tribute to vanity of sorts, but it can be forgiven under Carnival, so have no qualms in signing up for the Most Beautiful Mask award.
A stroll through St. Mark’s is a concrete testimony of affection towards a collective good, and using it as the backdrop for a game of transformation, a game of mixed identities, is a topical moment of the Venetian Carnival.
The beauty of the Carnival lies in being able to walk back in history donning clothing that find their immediate natural urban context. See one Marco Polo by the family house near Rialto, or a Doge and consort walking around the Piazza as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Following this year’s oriental theme, the programme will include the celebration of the Chinese New Year on February 10. The year of the Rabbit will be welcomed by spectacular traditional Chinese dances. More: the presentation of the Marias, the Shrove Thrusday Parade withthe cutting of the bull’s head, daily Commedia dell’Arte shows, historical reenactments, and more dance and animation all around.
