Carnevale

As I mentioned in my previous post, Carnevale takes place annually in Venice beginning forty days before Easter and ending the day before Easter which is called Shrove Tuesday or  Mardi Gras. Carnival originally began as a celebration and means of expression throughout the social classes,  as wearing masks and the traditional elaborate costumes hid any form of identity.  Though the celebration was forgotten for a period in history, during the 1970s the Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice and used the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts. Today, about 30,000 visitors come to Venice each day for the festivities that go on for weeks in February and March making the city a chaotic splendor of elaborate costumes and tourists from all over the world.

As I learned from the Carnevale-themed chocolate festival in Piazza Santa Croce, festivities are not limited to the watery canals of Venice. Carnevale celebrations spread throughout Italy and to other European countries. In Florence, the city gives out bags of confetti to all the children and it's the children's job to go about the city throwing tiny handfuls of confetti wherever they see fit, so essentially everywhere.

 

Walking down the street on the way to class, the sidewalk is randomly littered with firework-like splashes of colorful confetti . One can picture a child trouncing down the street, hand in hand with a parent, and stopping every whenever they feel the urge to toss a handful into the air and spin around laughing as it drifts to the ground. Street cleaners sweep most of it away in the early hours of the morning but evidence of the children's Carnevale celebrations tuck themselves away into crevices and gutters, reminding passersby of the Carnevale celebration weeks after Easter has passed.