cinalia

Venice · Street

Carnevale di Venezia

Masks, a city that empties of cars because it never had any, and a flight down a rope into the piazza

The two weeks before Lent Free in the streets; private balls from about 200 eurosFree to attend

Recorded from the twelfth century, banned by Napoleon, revived in 1979 as a tourism measure and now somewhere between a genuine tradition and a costume convention. The street carnival is free, the masks are everywhere and the piazza hosts the Volo dell'Angelo, in which a performer descends on a wire from the campanile.

The private balls in the palazzi are expensive, formal and require costume, which can be hired across the city.