Review of Venice Carnival 2019, Italy

The Venice Carnival 2019 last from February 16 to March 25. Venice carnival is unique experience,the romantic water city sometimes covered by dense fog, full of stories and mysteries. Many events that was held during the carnival, The program was amaze vistors who live these moments with great participation every year.

The 2019 edition of the Venice Carnival revolve around the theme of “All the fault of the moon”, an unpredictable extravagances for dreamers and time travelers. In the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing, the Venice Carnival is inspired by the Moon and, thus turning its eyes to the infinite vault, by the stars and their seductive myths. A bestiary of legends, myths, heroes and characters between dream and reality is preparing to invade Venice and the mainland, hiding behind the Shakespearean motto “It’s all the fault of the Moon, when it gets too close to the Earth it drives everyone crazy”.

Because the Moon, with its different phases, is the principle of the mask: it shows itself without veils, but wears the noble dress of the sunlight, which makes it shine. It appears varied and changeable, but it is always the same as itself. She is the great actress of the celestial vault, brazen and humoral, traitor: when she wants to kidnap us, she lets herself blush. The Moon is Carnival: with its period of time, it guides the biological rhythms and reminds us of the passage of time, birth, maturity and death. But his death is never final and, like Carnival, it returns every year to drive us crazy, we poor primitive creatures waiting for the next full moon.

Venice during the Carnival is spellbinding, with a historically rich mixture of performance and dining, and, of course, the magnificent costumes, including the extravagant masks for which Venice is so famous. If you have never had a romantic encounter in Venice, perhaps you have an opportunity to learn why countless generations of impassioned lovers have exclaimed that romance in Venice is the best romance there is. As every year there is great expectation for the Venetian festival, which always attracts a large number of tourists from all over Italy and the world for the occasion.

In the Carnival, the streets are filled with celebrants dressed in luxurious, festive garb; experiencing Venice during the Carnival is like stepping back in time, with no modern buildings to spoil the illusion. One can wander the streets, taking in the costumes and street performances, or attend an evening party, an opera or concert, in one of the palaces or hotels accustomed to hosting royalty.

Popular and exciting are also the Corteo delle Marie and the Flight of the Angel which celebrate the second weekend of Carnival, such as the Competition for the most beautiful mask in which costumed groups from all over the world participate, the Flight of the Eagle (Sunday), the coronation of the Carnival Mary and the shows that close the party on Shrove Tuesday, in a riot of colors, applause, confetti and the grace and beauty of the girls protagonists.

The glamorous side of Carnival is that of the palace parties: stuccos, golds, velvets and candles, the experience is overwhelming and immersive: between food and perfumes couples of fairies and admirer, queens and courtiers, great leaders, doges, cardinals, comedians and dancers welcome guests who in a few minutes forget the era to which they belong.

All of an evening you might experience walking up the stairs of a candlelit palace, expecting Casanova to make his advances; enjoying cocktails over the glimmering Grand Canal, abandoning your senses to pleasure; all while revealing your true identity only to carefully chosen intimates. After all this extravagance perhaps your night is completed by a mysterious, romantic, moonlight tryst, leaving you entranced and breathless, ready to meet the whole experience again the following day.

Highlight events
The Venice Carnival 2019 attracts a large number of tourists from all over Italy and the world for the occasion. The Venice Carnival includes a series of open-air public events that punctuate the two-weeks Carnival. The most important and festive events are masked balls and private parties organised in palaces to the rhythm of the nights of the Venice Carnival.

Venice Carnival is one traditions with strong foundation in culture with the significance and beauty. The whole world also gathers every year around this time gaze on its grandeur. Every year, the Venice Carnival turns the city into a spectacular riot of pageantry, colour, musical performances, fireworks displays and glamorous Venetian balls. If you want to experience the exotic atmosphere of Venice at its best, carnival is the time to go.

Everything kicks off with a blaze of flags, boats, music and sheer energy with the Grand Opening. Known as the Festa Veneziana, the opening takes place on the banks of the Cannaregio canal and was a feast of gorgeously decorated boats, dance and music shows topped off with dazzling fireworks.

The Venice Carnival’s schedule is packed with events. Popular and exciting are also the Corteo delle Marie and the Flight of the Angel which celebrate the second weekend of Carnival, such as the Competition for the most beautiful mask in which costumed groups from all over the world participate, the Flight of the Eagle (Sunday fat), the coronation of the Carnival Mary and the shows that close the party on Shrove Tuesday, in a riot of colors, applause, confetti and the grace and beauty of the girls protagonists.

The glamorous side of Carnival is that of the palace parties: stuccos, golds, velvets and candles, the experience is overwhelming and immersive: between food and perfumes couples of fairies and satyrs, queens and courtiers, great leaders, doges, cardinals, comedians and dancers welcome guests who in a few minutes forget the era to which they belong.

Visitors could attend the Gallery of Wonders at the Ca’ Vendramin Calergi Palace, where fine art, comedic performances and delicious food combine with wild costumes and dancing long into the night. The palace then hosts a number of similar events, so nobody need to miss out. Throughout the Carnival of Venice, visitors can also attend masked costume contests in the Piazza San Marco. Contestants are graded on the authenticity of their outfits before the Grand Finale.

Venice Carnival come to the finale on March 5, when the huge “Leone di San Marco” – the lion flag that symbolises Venice – is raised to its place at the top of the bell tower of San Marco to be saluted by the Twelve Marias. Earlier in the day, you could also watch the charming Carnival of Youth of Zelarino, which sees children parade in their colourful carts to Venice’s main square.

The following was the program of the 2019 edition:

The Venetian Festival on the water – Part 1
On Saturday 16 February the show of aquatic images and music officially open the Venice Carnival. The Rio di Cannaregio is transformed into a real water stage with a show that enchants thousands of spectators every year, where floating structures transfer the theme of the Carnival onto the water.

The Venetian Festival on the water – Part 2
On Sunday 17 February the water procession of the Coordination of Rowing Associations Voga alla Veneta leave its moorings from Punta della Dogana along the entire Grand Canal until it reaches the popular Rio di Cannaregio, where it parade in a riot of crowds crowded on the banks.

Mestre Carnival Street Show
From 23 February: the Mestre Carnival celebrate art and entertainment through the streets of the city. During the Carnival period the streets of Mestre come alive with street art shows, from the enthralling music of wild marching bands to entertaining clowning shows, up to the amazing performances of circus art.

Procession of the Festa delle Marie
Saturday 23 February: the traditional “Festa delle Marie” starts from San Piero di Castello at around 2.30 pm, travel along via Garibaldi and Riva degli Schiavoni in a spectacular procession, and arrive on the stage in Piazza San Marco around 4.00 pm, where the official presentation take place to the public of the Carnival.

The flight of the angel
Sunday 24 February: The exciting Flight of the Angel of the Venice Carnival 2019 officially opens the Carnival celebrations in Piazza San Marco at 12.00. This year it was Erika Chia. Welcomed in the crowded parterre by the groups of historical re-enactments in costume, it dissolve the tension of the flight in the embrace of the Doge and the public.

Ballad of the Masks with the Cutting of the Bull’s Head
Thursday 28 February: “The Cutting of the Bull’s Head” is the Fat Thursday party of the Venice Carnival which end with a great show in St. Mark’s Square at 5.00 pm. Event organized by the Compagnia L’Arte dei Mascareri Association.

El Carneval and the Lords of the Night
Friday 1 February at 3 and 5 pm in Piazza San Marco. The show evokes the ancient struggles between Nicolotti and Castellani, in a show conducted by a compelling narration and a fight between the two factions, creating an emotional involvement of the audience present.

Parade of floats in Marghera
Saturday 2 March: large masked floats and as many local groups parade along the streets of the “Garden City”: as usual, the procession make two passages in Piazza Mercato where, at the end of the parade, the participating groups was awarded.

The Flight of the Eagle
Sunday 3 March: also for the 2019 edition of the Carnival, the show of the flight or, better, of the “svolo” dell’Aquila is replicated with another spectacular flight from the bell tower of San Marco to the stage.

The flight of the Donkey
Sunday 3 March: Volo dell’Asino, one of the most anticipated events of the carnival program on the mainland. The celebrations of the last Sunday of Carnival in Mestre and in all the places of the municipality of Venice open at 12.00, then continuing throughout the afternoon.

Zelarino Children’s Carnival
Tuesday 5 March: From 2.45 pm the row of allegorical floats in the main street of the town accompanied by masked groups from the various Venetian provinces.

The “Svolo del Leon”
Tuesday 5 March: we celebrate the highest tributes to the winged Lion of San Marco, the symbol of our city which, exceptionally, climb the bell tower painted on a large scenic cloth to fly over the public in the square. The twelve Venetian maidens, the Marie, welcome him from 5.00 pm on the stage in Piazza San Marco.

Cultural Events
The leitmotif of the event is the tribute to the Moon in the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing: exhibitions, guided tours, concerts, theatrical plays, workshops and educational play activities for children. Original and ad hoc projects to offer numerous appointments every day, almost all free or at low prices.

History
The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy. It is one of the best known and most popular carnivals in the world. The festival is world-famous for its elaborate masks. Its origins are very ancient: the first evidence dates back to a document of the Doge Vitale Falier of 1094, where there is talk of public entertainment and in which the word Carnival is mentioned for the first time.

The institution of the Carnival by the Venetian oligarchies is generally attributed to the need of the Serenissima, like what already happened in ancient Rome (see panem et circenses), to grant the population, especially the humblest social classes, a period dedicated entirely for fun and celebrations, during which Venetians and foreigners flocked throughout the city to party with wild music and dancing.

Through the anonymity that masks and costumes guaranteed, a sort of leveling of all social divisions was achieved and even the public derision of the authorities and the aristocracy was authorized. These concessions were widely tolerated and considered a providential outlet to the tensions and discontent that inevitably arose within the Republic of Venice, which placed strict limits on its citizens on issues such as common morality and public order.

The Modern Carnival
Only in 1979, the centuries-old tradition of the Venice Carnival officially rose from its ashes, thanks to the initiative and commitment of some citizens’ associations and the logistical and economic contribution of the Municipality of Venice, of the Teatro la Fenice., of the Venice Biennale and tourist boards.

Within a few editions, thanks also to the media visibility reserved for the event and the city, the Venice Carnival has returned to tracing the footsteps of the ancient event with great success, albeit in different ways and atmospheres.

The individual annual editions of this new Carnival have often been distinguished and dedicated to a basic theme, which inspires them for parties and surrounding cultural events. Some editions were also characterized by combinations and twinning with other Italian and European cities, thus providing further involvement of the event at an international level.

The current Carnival of Venice has become a great and spectacular tourist event, which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world who flock to the city to participate in this festival considered unique for its history, atmosphere and masks.

The traditionally most important days of the Venetian Carnival are Shrove Thursday and Shrove Tuesday, even if the greatest influxes are certainly recorded during the weekends of the event.

The holidays
With the first edition of the recent Carnival, a program of events and a detailed calendar for the new major event are simultaneously established. The date for the start of the official celebrations is established to coincide with the Saturday before Shrove Thursday and the end with Shrove Tuesday, for a total duration of only eleven days. Unlike the Carnival of the past, which for a long time had an official duration of six weeks, the modern one takes place with a concentrated program, but full of individual events.

As in the past, the Carnival of Venice still represents a great popular festival for a large audience of all ages. Street parties and events of all kinds animate the days of the groups of masks and tourists, who happily scatter around the city. In addition to the official parties in the square between campi and campielli, still today as in the past various private parties and masked balls are organized in the great Venetian palaces. In these places, rich in furnishings and atmospheres almost unchanged over time, it is possible to relive the ancient splendors and the tradition of the Carnival of the past.

The Feast of the Marys
Only in 1999 the ancient Festa delle Marie was finally restored, with an atmosphere that combines the historical re-enactment of the ancient procession with the girls with a more modern beauty pageant in costume. It was officially revived about six hundred years later, by Bruno Tosi

In the weeks preceding the Carnival, a sort of selection is held among the young local beauties to choose the twelve Marys destined to parade as protagonists of the procession, during the celebration. The party generally takes place on the afternoon of the first Saturday of the Carnival, when the twelve Marys, accompanied by a long procession made up of a procession of bridesmaids, flag-wavers, musicians and hundreds of other figures in period costume, begins its slow walk starting from the church of San Pietro di Castello and heading towards Piazza San Marco, between the wings of a crowd of masks and tourists.

In Piazza San Marco, the next day, the bridesmaids parade again awaiting the official proclamation of the winner of the edition, the most beautiful of the twelve (the so-called Mary of the year), to whom a substantial prize is awarded.

The Flight of the Angel
In the modern Carnival it was decided to re-present to the public, in a guise similar to the original one of the ancient Carnival, the anniversary of the Flight of the Angel, in its variant of Volo della Colombina. While in the past this show was celebrated on Shrove Thursday, in modern editions it is generally held at noon on the first Sunday of celebration, as one of the opening events that officially decree the beginning of the Carnival itself. Until the 2000 edition, above a cheering crowd, with its gaze turned to the Campanile of San Marco, a mechanical bird with the shape of a dove carried out, as in the past, its descent on the rope towards the Doge’s Palace. Approximately halfway through, a trap door was opened in its lower part,

Since the 2001 edition, the first of the millennium, the old formula of the Flight of the Angel has been passed again, replacing the Colombina with a real artist and ending the descent in Piazza San Marco. The 2001 flight was entrusted to the Compagnia dei Folli, which lent its own artist for the event. For each edition, the Angel of the Carnival, secured to a metal cable, makes his only descent from the belfry of the bell tower, slowly sliding towards the ground, suspended in the void, above the multitude that fills the space below.