Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Venice’s Grand Party – The Venetian Carnival

The Carnival of Venice is one of the largest and most important festivals to be celebrated in this city of canals. The Venetian Carnival can trace its origins back to the fourteenth century when it was held to celebrate the passage from winter to spring. Masks have always been a central theme of the festival because it was by sporting these elaborate masks that most humble folk could disguise themselves and mingle with the higher classes during the various festivities of the festival.
 
Even today masks and elaborate costumes figure prominently in the celebration of the Venetian carnival which is usually held every year in mid–February for ten days. This festival usually terminates on Mardi gras and is known for its many fun events like parades, theatrical performances, masked balls and parties which feature much revelry.

The Venice Carnival is known to attract scores of visitors from around the world and if you’ve always wanted to play dress up and hide your visage behind a mask this event gives you the perfect opportunity to do so.

Once you have decided to attend the Venice carnival you should start tracking the activities of various airlines that provide connections to Venice from the US for the flight to Venice is a long haul one for which business travel is definitely recommended if you want to avoid losing precious carnival time due to jet lag. These airlines themselves often offer incredible business class deals to Venice for carnival, which take the form of promotional fares. The airlines then promote these cheap business class tickets on the internet via their dedicated newsletters or by using trendy social media tools as is the norm nowadays.  These discount business class airfares to Venice however often require the fulfillment of certain conditions like advance purchases and restrictive travel dates. These are but minor inconveniences considering the tremendous savings that they represent. 

If however you are a traveler who can’t plan for vacations way in advance, you need not worry for it is often possible to get similar discount business class fares to Venice from a reputed travel agent. It also helps if you are regular client of a particular travel agent for they usually have access to a  number   cheap business class tickets to various worldwide destinations due to the relationships that they have with various airlines and they tend to offer these discount business airfares  to their regular clients first.

It must be mentioned that these deep discount business class tickets to Venice are in no way inferior to regular business class tickets for these cheap business class fares to Venice, come loaded with all the amenities and luxuries of regular business class airfares like fast track check-in and immigration, enhanced luggage allowance and airline lounge access and onboard comforts like fully flat beds and unlimited good food and wine accompanied by personalized service.

The Venice Carnival is one of Italy’s oldest festivals but by no means is it unique to Venice for similar celebrations also take place at the same time in many other cities in Italy. Carnival which is known as Carnevale in Italian originates from the Latin term ‘carnevale’ which means’ bidding farewell to meat’ and fittingly the carnival is held on the days that precede Lent or the period during which Roman Catholics abstain from meat before Easter. During the 16th century the Carnevale di Venezia used to commence on December 26 and last until Ash Wednesday. This lengthy celebration also featured mask wearing, gambling, brothels, cafes, theaters and parties though the mask wearing traditions of Carnival are believed to have been derived from the Roman celebration of winter which featured a fertility festival that was characterized by mask wearing.

Today much of the action of the Venice Carnival is centered on the city’s Piazza San Marco for it is here that crowds get to witness the ‘Flight of the Angel’ wherein a chosen celebrity flies down from the Torre Del Campanile amidst much fanfare and merriment. This event is usually followed by the historical parades of the Doge and Dogaressa and this parade in turn is followed later by another procession called the Fiesta Della Marie wherein traditional carnival groups follow seven Venetian girls attired in the most elaborate costumes. The Fiesta Della Marie parade kicks off at San Pietri di Castello and continues on until it reaches the Piazza San Marco.

The square additionally hosts several music and costume festivals in which both adults and children participate. The Carnival costumes run the gamut from elaborate interpretations of 18th Century fashions to supermarket superhero and pirate Halloween wear and both adults and children enjoying playing ‘dress up’ for the festivities. Other musical performances and events are also held at the Campo Santa Margherita and the Campo San Barnaba and the Stazione Marittima. Additionally the Rio Terra Canali that lies between the Campo Santa Margherita and Campo San Barnaba host several food and merchandise stalls that sell nuts, sweets and marzipan along with traditional carnival foods like fritelles(which are quite similar to doughnuts) which are specially made for the event.

Apart from these largely free events, the Venice carnival also features many balls, dances and dinners which are usually ticketed events that sport hefty admission tags but are extremely popular with the many tourists who descend on Venice for the carnival festivities.