Carnival in Venice

I've written, usually not very positively, about the Venetian Carnivale before. Imagine 80,000 tourists crammed into Piazza San Marco for the opening of Carnival, in a city which has a rather elderly population now of about 65,000... and you'll understand why it can all be a bit traumatic for the residents!

Nevertheless, Carnival's ongoing blog coverage from Venice Daily Photo made me want to go back through my old archives and pull out the pictures of the first Venetian Carnival I ever attended, exactly 15 years ago this season.

They're taken from my travel diary of that year, that anno mirabilis, the first time I had ever left the country and the first time I came to Venice. I hope you get to enjoy vicariously even a small part of the wonder and the spectacle even now, a decade and a half later, that I experienced at the time...

Can the Venetian Carnival Become Any More Irrelevant for Venetians?

I've dissed Carnival before... and Venetians hate it. (Oh, and while we're at it, they despise masks too, and most of the ones you'll ever see were made in China, so there.)

And just in case you needed any proof that Carnival is completely irrelevant to the 60,000 or so Venetians (whose average age is somewhere in the 50s... Not a joke, a fact!)



Usually, a small fake dove (as you can see on the embedded video, when it works) flies down on cables from Saint Mark's belltower and release confetti from its insides to inaugurate the start of Carnivale. This year, it was apparently instead the rap star Coolio! (You can even see the picture at Venice Daily Photo.)

I'm (nearly) speechless!! And I don't even want to know how he released the confetti. Nothing against him personally, but it's not like all the resident octogenarian little old Venetian ladies I know are huge fans of hip hop!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Venice Carnival is now officially a sham...

More dissing Venice (and ruining the Redentore?)

Seems that the Telegraph's doing an entire series dissing Venice this week... This time, they're criticising the privatization (and therefore "Disneyfication") of the Venetian Carnival.

Fact of the matter is that Carnival in Venice is already "Disneyfied"! It had largely died out by the 1980s, when it was revived as a way to get tourists into the city during the crappy winter weather months. Most Venetians hate Carnival, and skip town during it if they can!

But privatizing also the Venetians' beloved Festival of the Redeemer?? That would be adding insult to injury for the few, already tourist beleagered Venetians left!! (You can read my past posts about Venice's treasured Festa del Redentore here...)

Insider's Guide to Venice: Forget Carnival!

Want an authentic Venetian experience? Then don't go to Carnival! As a tradition, it had largely died out in Venice until it was revived only in the 1980s, and is now primarily just for tourists! (Many locals even leave town if they can, precisely to avoid it!!)

Why does this website hype carnival then? Well, they do sell travel insurance...

Christmas Carnival!

A wonderful thing about the holidays in Italy is that the Christmas season doesn't end on the 25th, but keeps going until Epiphany!

One sure sign of the holidays here in Venice is the Christmas carnival on the waterfront.

Know the fun series, the Xenophobe's Guides? There are actually also a number of cultural differences among Italians, and so they've published the same series about them here!

In the one on Venetians by Sandro Mattiazzi called Veneziani: Figli del leone alato ("Children of the Winged Lion"), locals speak fondly of this travelling carnival that comes back every year. Some people who live in the immediate area complain about the crowds and the lights and the weight of the rides and the trucks that bear them (brought in by barge), which they say undermine the stability of the waterfront.

I don't know if that's actually true, and most Venetians instead look forward to it reappearing like Brigadoon in the winter mists, whether or not they always go see it themselves. I recall reading in Mattiazzi's book folks' saying something like, "It makes me happy just knowing that it's back."

More Prose from Venice...Food, fog & other fun!

Some more from the pre-blog "oldies but goodies" department, from a year and a month ago today... I hope you enjoy!

Thanks as always!

Michelle

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Ciao, ragazzi!

Blech, I've caught a cold. But it was worth it... Went to see the sixteenth-century play in Venetian dialect, "La Venexiana." It was done by a company which specializes in a strange blend of Renaissance and commedia dell'arte plays with experimental theater. Most interesting, eclectic mix I've seen in a long time. In fact, the stage was probably not much bigger than my office, and the theater sat maybe 100 people. Unfortunately, while I can manage to read centuries-old Venetian, I can't follow it too well in conversation. I understood maybe half of all the dialogue.

Still, it wasn't that complex of a plot... I'd never seen or read the play before, but it turns out that it's a total sex romp. Two Venetian noblewomen (who instead were in actuality among the most legally circumscribed in all of Renaissance Italy) fall in love with the same recently-arrived young foreigner, and race to have him first. All in all, probably no worse than Machiavelli's "The Mandrake Root," except somehow I don't think the original production involved frontal nudity, though...

Anyway, these days fog has descended upon Venice, making the whole place look like one giant impressionist painting. It's particularly surreal at night. You know how Maine all looks the same color when it snows... the ground, the sky, the air... all white? Here it all looks like smoke... and at night the waterbuses glide slowly across the lagoon into this strange void, and buildings and boats seem to appear at the last moment like ghostly apparitions. So, what do I do? I stand outside to soak it all in, and catch the dreaded cold. Ah well, I guess it's all part of life's rich pageant...

We're back with my husband's folks, since our renter has returned. Fortunately (or unfortunately), my mother-in-law is still cooking up a storm, even though she no longer has to entice us to stay. Mostly, I think, it was a result of the disastrous "Duck à l'Orange" on the 26th... In an extremely rare move, she tried to cut corners by getting a rotisserie duck, and then adding her own sauce. By the time it was all reheated, though, it had become " Rock à l'Orange." Now, I don't know about you, but I've had my share of culinary disasters... However, this is a major part of her identity! So, to compensate, we first had a wonderful stuffed pheasant with (my favorite!) fresh artichokes on the side the moment we got back, and at the same time she improvised a fantastic quiche with spinach, ricotta, and prosciutto for lunch the next day, since she wasn't going to be home in the morning because of a doctor's appointment. (In the same case, I personally just stop by McDonald's instead... but then again, I'm not a domestic goddess!)

Yesterday, on the other hand, we had an invite for lunch with my husband's uncle and aunt, at which was served a stuffed capon cooked by the mother-in-law's Ukrainian live-in nurse. The only place I've ever seen a capon before was in my previous incarnation as a medievalist, in manorial dues' documents... You know, something like "peasants will deliver unto to the lord two capons each Michelmas," or some such!

And now that the Christmas sweets are slowly fading off the scene, the Carnival pastries are available. Mostly fried, sugared stuff, not unlike New Orleans beignets. Since carnival ends with Lent, traditionally they had to get rid of all the lard by that time, and they were likewise encouraged to get their sugar ya-yas out beforehand. Mmmm!

Each day, fortunately or unfortunately, there's food we can't possibly refuse. I don't know what I'm going to do! Oh well... I guess I'm just going to have to study it closely and try to cook it for you all when I get back... It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!!! :)

Hope you all are doing well! Check in when you can... :)
A presto!
Michelle

(January 10, 2005)

Newsflash: Venice's carnival goes Chinese!

ANSA.it - News in English - Venice carnival gets oriental spice

Notes on "La Befana" from Eliana!

Thanks, Eliana!!! :-)

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Buon capodanno anche a te!

Just wanted to remind you of the very important 'Festa della Befana' tomorrow. I am particularly fond of it, since today it is my birthday, and my nickname for my entire childhood was 'befanina'. Have a very happy new year and thank you for your great blog.

Saluti, Eliana Marsella

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"La Befana"

La Befana vien di notte

Con le scarpe tutte rotte,

Col vestito alla romana,

Viva, viva la Befana!

The Befana comes at night

With her shoes all broken,

Dressed in the Roman style.

Hurray, hurray for the Befana!

The name "Befana" must take its origin from a corruption of the word "Epifania" - Epiphany - but somehow has come to mean an ugly old witch. On January 5, eve of the Epiphany, she flies around on her broomstick delivering sweets to the good children and lumps of coal to the bad ones: they find them by their beds when they wake up in the morning on January 6. (As there are no bad children nowadays - or more likely because coal fires are no longer in use - a black sweet takes the place of real coal.)

But the real meaning of Epiphany is still celebrated on January 6, which is a national holiday in Italy and a feast-day of the Catholic church. There are processions in many towns, where people act out the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the stable in Bethlehem.

In Rome, one of the traditional processions takes place around Piazza del Popolo, ending at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which every year hosts an exhibition of cribs from all over the world. Another procession makes its way to St. Peter's Square, arriving in time for the Pope's Angelus blessing at noon on January 6.At Sutri, a small town on the Via Cassia less than an hour's drive from the capital, tableaux are staged among tombs and monuments dating from Roman times, which are lit up with torches all evening. In the village of Ostia Antica, which boasts a Renaissance castle as well as an archeological site, the Wise Men arrive on horseback while carols are sung in the church of Sant'Aurea.In Florence a procession takes place from the church of Santa Croce to the Duomo. "La Befana" marks the end of Christmas festivities: Epifania tutte le feste porta via. The following day the children return to school and their parents go back to work....but it won't be long till Carnival time!

--Posted to *Michelle's Mental Clutter* at 1/05/2006 11:51:14 AM

Talk about "Floating Mountains"!

Seems that I posted about the "Floating Mountains" of Venice too soon!

Take a look at the Carnival Liberty... Built by the local Fincantieri ship builders in nearby Marghera, it's here in the city to celebrate its christening and debut.

This is not a trick photo. The cruise ship is actually that huge! You can see exactly how big when you see it smack-dab next to the buildings of the city!!

(This leviathan weighs in at 110,000 metric tons, is 72 meters tall, 43 meters wide, and boasts nearly 1500 cabins!)

Somehow, though, I don't think this is quite what Petrarch had in mind! And, as a matter of fact, his modern Venetian counterparts are even less thrilled about its visit than he was about ships in his day.

The Liberty blots out the sky for the inhabitants of the waterfront (as you can see in the photo below) not to mention any summer sea breeze and television reception!

Top that off with the fact that we don't live on the waterfront, but we can still hear the ship's generators throughout the entire neighborhood (and even within our house with all the windows closed!) and you'll know why the locals have been driven to distraction!

Categories: Venice

The Plague and the Redeemer

In 1575-77, Venice was hit by a terrible epidemic of the plague, one of the largest since the Black Death back in 1348. In an almost unimaginable calamity, as much as a fourth of the population would be killed by the pestilence!

The Venetian government was at a complete loss to stop the outbreak. In a last ditch effort, the Republic passed legislation making a religious vow to Christ the Redeemer Himself (or the Redentore in Italian) asking him to take pity on Venice and stop the plague, for which the city would gratefully build a church in His honor, and forever commemorate His intervention each year with a religious holiday, processions, and other festivities on every third Sunday of July. When the plague ended, the Venetians were as good as their word, and built the Church of the Redentore on the island of the Giudecca, which you can even virtually tour here.

And the celebration still happens to this very day! It is one of the few festivities that Venetians still feel passionately about (unlike Carnival, for example, which most Venetians refuse to celebrate, and is now almost entirely for the tourists' benefit!)

This is the week that Venetians have been waiting all year for...

It's the Festa del Redentore!!

(More updates from the field as the week continues...)

Categories: Venice