Venice “il Carnevale di Venezia”
Written: Sep 20 '01 (Updated Jan 24 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A visit during the Carnival season offers unique travel/cultural experiences
Cons: The weather is unpredictable
The Bottom Line: Venice is a city that has inspired lovers, artists, and writers for more than a thousand years
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| Howard_Creech's Full Review: Venice |
Venice (the “Pearl of the Adriatic") is one of those magical travel destinations like Paris, Barcelona, and New Orleans that amazingly live up to their romantic depictions, especially if you visit at the right time. If you travel to Venice in the summer you’ll endure higher prices, huge crowds, indifferent service, humid weather, rushed mediocre food, stinky canals, and long waits for every attraction. Better times to visit are in the autumn (nice weather, no crowds, lower prices, no waiting) and during the Carnival Season (February/March).
Venice is the world's most unique city, a place where the life of the city moves along the water, where boats are as common as cars and trucks elsewhere. A constantly changing landscape of piazzas, churches, picturesque canals, palaces, beautiful bridges, and narrow medieval alleyways. This ancient watery metropolis offers visitors over 1,000 years of history, spectacular art and architecture, unique food and drink, and a fascinating lifestyle built around dozens of tiny islands and the canals and bridges that connect them. Venice came to be, as the last desperate survivors of the Roman Empire, fleeing the barbarian hordes of Attila the Hun, found safety in the islands of the Venice lagoon. The city grew strong and powerful and became the commercial crossroads of the medieval world.
The Venetian Empire controlled world trade for centuries. The spices and exotic luxury goods of the far-east traveled overland by caravan from China, India, and the Spice Islands to be loaded on Venetian ships and distributed by Venetian traders throughout Europe. Venetian merchant Marco Polo’s 13th century journey to the court of Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan) in China set the tone for the voyages that led to the discovery to the new world. In fact, much of the underlying reason for the voyages of Columbus and other explorers was to find a way to circumvent Venetian control of trade with the far-east.
Carnival/Carnevale (Latin for farewell to meat) is the Venetian version of the pre Lenten festival common to all Catholic countries. The forty days before Easter are traditionally a time of fasting, meatless meals, and abstention from the pleasures and temptations of the flesh. In typical Venetian fashion the two weeks before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) are spent in revelry, grandiose meals, fantastic masks and costumes, and partying in the streets. Gondolas filled with locals (and tourists) dressed in costumes and masks from the middle ages, arrive and depart the quay at Piazza San Marco almost continuously. Groups of masked revelers fill the streets, piazzas, and alleys with noise and color.
Similar pre-Lenten celebrations occur throughout the Catholic world, including famous festivals in Rio (Carnival), Mainz (Fasching), and New Orleans (Mardi Gras) The tradition of masking (and costumes) can be traced back even further than the religious aspects; to pagan times and Venice’s first residents. The Romans celebrated the end of winter with a glutinous fertility festival that encouraged anonymous debauchery, with masks worn by nobles, citizens, and slaves alike. During the two weeks before Shrove Tuesday each year the city of Venice sponsors pageants, commedia dell'arte, concerts, and masked balls.
During Carnevale's glory days in the eighteenth century the celebration started the day after Christmas and lasted through Ash Wednesday. The nonstop partying, high stakes gambling, conspicuous consumption, and general lasciviousness reflected the decadence and gradual decline of the Venetian Republic, which had lost much of its power after the discovery (by the Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and British) of the new world and sea routes to the far-east. These discoveries by early explorers had broken the Venetian monopoly of World trade. When Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops conquered Venice in 1797, the Venetian Republic ended, and so did the extravagant and decadent Carnevale celebrations.
Food & Drink
Every restaurant in town, from five star dinning establishments to neighborhood "Mom & Pop" Trattoria's feature wonderful local cuisine during the Carnival season.
Breakfast fortify yourself for the hours of serious walking by trying a real Cappuccino (espresso with hot milk) and a sweet cornetto (croissant) with peach or apricot jelly.
For Lunch try the Menu Touristico, many Venetian restaurants offer special fixed prices on complete meals for the hungry tourist. A delicious “menu Touristico” meal at a nice Trattoria (a modestly priced family style restaurant) can be a wonderful experience. How do you choose a good Trattoria? If the smell coming from the restaurant makes your mouth water and if it’s crowded at lunch/dinner time (or if there are folks waiting to get in) it’s a likely bet that the food is good and that word of mouth advertising has caused the crowd.
For Dinner try a couple Venetian regional specialties such as:
Spaghetti ala Carbonara “Venetian style” Pasta with a sauce of eggs, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and black pepper (in Venice this dish is flavored with bacon rather than ham)
Risi e bisi. A creamy risotto (rice dish) with peas and bacon.
Spaghetti alle vognole. Pasta with clams and “hot” sauce.
Fritto di mare. A deep-fried assortment of fish, shrimp, clams, and calamari (whatever happens to turn up in the fishermen’s nets) try this with one of the Venetto regions wonderful white wines.
Pasta e fagiole. A thick hearty soup made with beans and pasta (try it with a dash of olive oil) A great dish for cold weather or when its raining outside. Pasta e fagiole provides lots of energy for walking, shopping, and exploring.
Pizza ala Quattro Stagioni (the four seasons) A Venetian style pizza with artichokes, ham (sliced paper thin), wild mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese
Stop for a break at one of the many quaint coffeehouses, and have a Grappa and an espresso to chase the chill away. Venetians love to talk and the city’s coffeehouses are where they go for gossip and to visit.
Getting around in Venice
Venezia is a pedestrian paradise and the best way to see Venice is on foot. Walking along the canals, piazzas, and alleyways will allow you to make those tiny discoveries that can make a trip really magical. Travel by Vaporetto (waterbus) is also an excellent way to get around, especially for trips to Murano, Burano and Torcello. Gondolas are very expensive but well worth the expense, especially if you are with your significant other and choose the time carefully (sundown is beautiful and very romantic) My wife and I took a Gondola ride at sundown (with a singing Gondolier) and I shot a picture of our gondolier silhouetted against a beautiful orange sky with the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in the background.
Not To Be Missed
The top of the Camponile (the bell tower) at the Piazza San Marco, for a stunning 360 degree view of the entire lagoon.
BURANO. The Fisherman’s island is famous for its wonderful handmade lace and its beautiful little fishing village. Each of the small houses is painted in bright colors (supposedly so that the fishermen can easily keep an eye on their own homes while fishing in the lagoon) There is a lovely small piazza and a leaning bell tower. The Museo del Merletto (Lace Museum) is the best place to learn about the history and artistry of Burano's lace-making tradition. Burano has been known to make travel photographers drool.
MURANO is made up of a number of smaller islands linked by bridges. The island is known for its glassworks (moved here from Venice in the 13th century because of the fire hazard) There are great photo opportunities shooting the skilled glassmakers working with mouth tubes, simple tools, and molten glass. The Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum) details the history of Murano's glassworks, which made most of the trade beads, used in colonial America and Africa. Murano also has a small lighthouse that is very photogenic.
TORCELLO is the island where the Romans first settled after their flight from the barbarian’s 1,500 years ago. The cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta, (11th century) has beautiful and ornate Byzantine mosaics.
The JEWISH GHETTO, Venice’s Jewish district (which gave the world the word "ghetto") is a quiet area of small buildings and narrow alleyways that still looks much as it did when the first Jews arrived in Venice in the 11th century. In the 16th century all Venetian Jews were restricted to this area, which was named for a local foundry, "geto" in the Venetian dialect.
For Photographers
The Rialto Markets
Venice’s city market has all the color, bustle, and candid shots that any photographer could want, a window into the real life of Venezia. For more than 1000 years (since 1097) Venetians have shopped for their daily necessities, fish, vegetables, fruit, bread, and other foodstuffs at the Rialto markets. The markets are open to the public, and there's no better place in town to shoot genuine Venetian “street” images. Workers unload produce from barges; vendors hawk their wares; restaurant chefs examine the freshly caught fish at the Pescheria (fish market), and housewives squeeze fruits and sniff vegetables at the Erberia (vegetable market). Get up early and watch the city come to life at this colorful and noisy public marketplace. Located in the neighborhood around the base of the Rialto Bridge (on the right-bank) over the Grand Canal.
Isola di San Michele, also called Isola di Cimitero (the graveyard island)
Isola di San Michele was a prison under the Venetian Republic, but in1800 the Commander of Napoleon’s occupation forces ordered the Venetians to consolidate all burials on one island, and the dead of Venice have been buried on Isola di San Michele ever since. Most of Isola Di Cimitero is reserved for Venice’s Catholics. The Catholic section is laid out with low walls defining the various sections, the graves lie in neat tightly packed and well-ordered rows that are separated by narrow walking paths.
The two small graveyards reserved for other Christians (the Greci or Greek Orthodox cemetery where Igor Stravisnky and Sergei Diaghilev are buried and the Protestant graveyard, where poet Ezra Pound is buried) are a stark contrast to the beautifully tended Catholic areas. Some of the tombstones are covered with moss, many lean at precarious angles; some are broken, and others have fallen over. There is an overall air of genteel neglect to the non-Catholic areas.
I took one of my favorite pictures here, early one morning in November as my Vaporetto approached Isola di San Michele through the fog, I shot the island using a light blue Cokin filter (to highlight the fog and sense of isolation) and just as I snapped the picture a single gull flew across the water between the Vaporetto and the island. To visit Isola Di Cimitero catch the number 52 Vaporetto at the Fondamenta Nuove stop (Look for the yellow sign that reads "Murano-Cimitero") After you've visited San Michele; the same route will take you on to Murano, the glass-blowers island.
Conclusion
If you visit Venice during Carnevale season the restaurants, cafes, and coffehouses will be packed with joyous groups of masked revelers fortified (against the cold) with cup after cup of espresso and glass after glass of Grappa, (an inexpensive Italian brandy) There are fewer tourists and the locals are friendlier and more outgoing. Be sure to try a couple of the Venetian "jazz" clubs, the music is surprisingly good and the ambience is loose and easy. If you are a photographer the incredible variety of masks and costumes will keep you clicking the shutter almost full time. Venetians (in costume) adore being asked to pose, and will agree to almost any reasonable request. Neighborhoods will be filled with friendly college kids home for the festivities, and members of the Venetian "diaspora" back in town for a few days of visiting and partying.
The shops will be stocked with handmade “Carnevale” masks, costumes, leather goods, hand-blown Murano art glass and beautiful Burano lace. Bring sturdy comfortable walking shoes and a warm coat, the weather can be treacherous during February and early March. Snow, freezing rain, high tides (with minor flooding), and cold winds are not un-common. Typically gray dreary European winter skies are the norm, however there will be lovely days with cobalt blue skies. Winter in Venice is something that few tourists ever see, so consider visiting the city of canals during "Carnevale".
Venetian Carnival Masks
Carnival masks fall into two major categories, Commedia dell'Arte masks (characters like Harlequin and Pierrot) and Traditional Venetian “Carnevale” masks like the white half-mask with nose cover and the "plague doctor's" mask. This mask has a long almost phallic “beak” like nose supposedly to protect the wearer from being infected by the Bubonic plague. Mascareri (or maskmakers) have had their own guild since the fifteenth century. The practice of wearing masks reached its peak during the 18th Century, when Venetians of different social classes used Carnevale to mingle and, in some cases trade sexual favors, across class lines without fear of recognition.
World famous Venetian Photographer Fulvio Roiter has published several volumes of his beautiful and sensitive Venetian images, to include “Venice Carnival” which features dozens of his color images of the Carnival celebration. The book is out of print but if you can find a copy it is like taking a virtual trip to Venice during the Carnevale season.
“Carnevale in Venice”
First Posted: February 8, 2000
Visitors: Members 57 (Total 117)
Word Count 458
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 334
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About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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