ITALY: THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN AND ITALIAN TOURISTS FLOCK TO LAGOON CITY OF VENICE AS COSTUMED PARADE KICKS OFF

Record ID: 862391

  • Title: ITALY: THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN AND ITALIAN TOURISTS FLOCK TO LAGOON CITY OF VENICE AS COSTUMED PARADE KICKS OFF
  • Date: 23rd February 2003
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VENICE, ITALY
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TTNV8NCZBYUB7QH8X6XQIKXV
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  • Story Text: Thousands of foreign and Italian tourists flooded into the lagoon city of Venice as costumed parades kicked off the city's world famous carnival this weekend.
    Carnival. The very word conjures up ideas of great street parties and feasting and fun all round.
    In Venice it also means that English replaces the Venetian dialect as the city's main language, as thousands of tourists flood in to the lagoon city to take part in the centuries-old tradition.
    As festival kicked off this weekend, tourists filled up Venice's Piazza San Marco, and the narrow streets and bridges around it, ready to pay up to 450 euros for a ticket to a masked ball or a still-steep 70 euros to sip hot chocolate in Piazza San Marco.
    Most of them seem to think the show is well worth it. One English tourist had chatted with some masked Venetians and was enjoying the fun of the carnival.
    "You can look at people's eyes and you can't really see whether they are actually smiling or not underneath the mask.
    So I think it is a quite a cool way to kind of cover up yourself. Today women use make-up, it's almost the same thing, you cover yourself. But everybody's looking at your eyes to see what your real emotions," he said.
    Carnival officially started on Sunday (February 23) with the traditional flight of the dove (Il volo della Colombina): fencing champion Frida Scarpa used a rope to descend from San Marco's bell tower into the square filled with onlookers. The carnival will end on March 4.
    Venetians are well used to tourism but the influx of people is so huge for carnival that during the celebrations some avoid going out or head for the hills to ski in the nearby Dolomites.
    But a lot of Venetians don't let overcrowding and consumerism alienate them from a deeply felt tradition.
    Masks used to be such an integral part of Venetian life that at one stage they had extended well out of the carnival period and streets were full of anonymous faces.
    When the Serenissima Republic of Venice fell under Austrian rule in the late 18th century, hiding behind a paper mache face was considered a threat and all masquerading was banned until the carnival was re-instated in 1979.
    "I'm dressed as a Venetian gentleman of Casanova's times,"
    said Venetian-born Francesco, proudly.
    "Then, virtually all men and women had a secret lover.
    Using this costume they could walk around Venice with their lover without being recognised," he explained.
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