Italy Italia

People rarely tell the truth unless they are wearing a mask. -Unknown Venetian maskmaker

We arrived in Venice just in time to catch the last few days of Carnevale, the pre-Lenten festival that culminates in martedi grasso, or Fat Tuesday. This is the Venetian version of Mardi Gras, but it is a far cry from that jazz-infused, body-baring celebration in New Orleans. And I can state from experience that it is much more covered-up and less spontaneous than Brazilian Carnaval (see my photos from last year's Brazilian Carnaval here).

All of these festivals foretell the onset of Lent, the 40 days of fasting and prayer that precede Easter in the Catholic church year. As such, the carnival is known for drinking, dancing and other indulgences that should be sworn off in the following days. Historically, crowd-pleasing activities ranged from operatic performances to bull-baiting and firing dogs from cannons. In Victorian Venice, the highlight was the masquerade ball. 

When Napoleon conquered Venice in 1797, he put an immediate end to the festivities associated with Il Carnevale. Later rulers like Mussolini ensured that the debauched practice remained dead. It was only in 1979 that the festival was revived.

The Venetians have picked up just where they left off two hundred years ago (minus the live animals flying from cannons). Revelers don the regalia of their Victorian forebears, as opposed to the teeny-weeny bikinis that you might see in Brazil, for example. Most of the masks are stock characters from comedia dell'arte, the theatrical comedy of 16th and 17th-century Italy. Revelers put on their most ostentatious, over-the-top outfits, parade for pictures on Piazza San Marco, then proceed to private parties and masquerade balls.