Carnevale di Venezia

The carnival takes place two weeks before the commencement of Lent. This festival is the highlight of the calendar as people dress up and enjoy one of the most ancient celebrations in history. Previously people used to mask themselves as a tribute to the libertine life and this is a tradition that has continued. Now, this carnival is celebrated & used as an exhibition of history, beauty and humility. The city is transformed and taken back in time by the life of the party.

During the Carnival season, prices in Venice can be astronomical and around £120 per night. To avoid these charges, we recommend you arrive a couple of days earlier, staying a little further away or even booking in advance. There is a shuttle which will be able to easily transport you from the airport to Venice and we do offer accommodation at the Grand Canal where you get dive straight into the festivities. All masked events we organise will cover dinner and a beverage of your choice.

If you are worried about your costumes, we can recommend certain shops or alternatively, suggests shops for you to rest a one of a kind costume.

People that are in Venice during the carnival ,if not too tired from the party of the previous night, can visit a guided tour of churches and palaces around the city. The winter in that period may be very cold so we don’t recommend to get a boat tour. We recommend to stay at least 4 days in Venice and if you are interested in wine tours and tastings there are interesting wineries at 40 km from Venice by car.

Carnival Costume photo shooting

Photo shooting and editing with carnival venetian costume in Venice.

We work with “Atelier Rialto”, who is provider of original hand-made carnival costumes.

Contact us

Featured in the top-ten attractions in every guidebook in the world, here's the prince of events in Venice: the Venetian Carnival.

Venice Carnival: schedule and dates

Let's start with the basics: when does it start and what are the most important dates of the island's biggest celebration? Carnival dates change every year as they follow the liturgical calendar.

Starting about forty days before Easter, you'll already see a few masks going around, the streets covered in confetti, and the bakeries displaying fritole and galani; but it's the 15 days before Ash Wednesday when the real festivities are unleashed. In 2023, Carnival will run from Saturday, February 4, to Tuesday, February 21.

Keep an eye on the calendar and already think about planning a long weekend so as not to miss the most important events: more and more shows and parties are being organized on Friday and Saturday nights, but Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday remain the days to circle on the calendar!

The Venice Carnival program is always very rich. On the official Carnival website, you will find all the information and updates in real-time!

Venice Carnival events

The Venice Carnival events planned for 2023 have not yet been finalized by the City of Venice. We are all already anxiously awaiting the official program." The top events each year are as follows:

Festa Veneziana on the water in rio de Cannaregio with a parade of rowing associations, performances on the water, and food and wine stands;

Procession and Festa delle Marie

Flight of the angel from the bell tower of San Marco

Flight of the eagle in St. Mark's Square

Awarding of the Carnival Mary in St. Mark's Square followed by the flight of the Lion.

Customarily, during the Carnival period, the most beautiful costumes parade each day on the stage set up in St. Mark's Square until the grand finale of the competition with the awarding of the most beautiful mask.

Experience a Venice Carnival Masquerade Ball.

Not only outdoor events for the Venice Carnival: after all, it is still winter, and it is pleasant to spend the long days and nights of revelry in the warmth.

Participating in a Venice Carnival Masquerade Ball is really a unique opportunity to experience Carnival as a true protagonist!

You will have the opportunity to enter some of the most beautiful Venetian noble palaces and residences in the city, which are usually closed; for this reason alone, it is worth attending these balls; here, you will go back in time and relive the splendor of the Serenissima among the thousands of tapestries, gilded mirrors, Murano glass chandeliers and precious decorations that adorn these dreamy places!

There are many private parties in palaces, and not all of them are the same, but in each one, you will be able to enjoy truly impressive performances with many artists: dancers, jugglers, fire breathers, acrobats and lots of live music in the luxury of a Venetian mansion.

Remember that these Venice masquerade balls are in high demand and should be booked well in advance if you want to make sure you get your spot!

Tickets are of various types and can include various services: you can enter for the gala dinner with a rented period costume or wait for the after-dinner party.

If you want to learn more, need to rent a costume, or are looking for accommodations for the after party, contact us ... we are here for you.

Venice Carnival masks: what to wear?

If you really want to immerse yourself in the party atmosphere, it is absolutely essential to dress up. Don't be shy, leave the house already prepared and dressed in wigs, swords, wings, capes, and confetti: the party already starts in the streets! The most famous Venice Carnival masks are certainly those that trace the lavish costumes of the Venetian 700s or the sixteenth-century figures of Goldoni's Commedia dell'Arte (Pantalone, Colombina, Arlecchino, ..): wearing such a dress handmade by a sartorial atelier is really an incredible experience.

Venice Carnival Dresses

The 1700s was the century of Carlo Goldoni, but also of Giacomo Casanova and great painters such as Giambattista Tiepolo and Canaletto.

Venetian Carnival costumes date from the second half of the 1500s, and faithful historical reproductions can be found in Venice ateliers. Among the various types of costumes available, the most famous are the Commedia dell'Arte Costumes. These include the costumes of characters from the Italian theater tradition with the great Venetian, Carlo Goldoni. The Venetian Costumes of the 1700s date from the 18th century, which sawd the heyday of Venice and its historic Carnival.

But we said the important thing is to have a costume, to set your imagination free... And build your own character yourself with a Carnival Masks course!

What is the history of the Venice Carnival?

Like all popular festivities, it has not always been as we know it today. Its origins go all the way back to Roman times, but it was only with the birth of the dogado that the Venetian Carnival tradition began to acquire its own physiognomy. The first official document declaring it a public holiday is from 1296, although the first written mention is dated 1094.

The history of the Venice Carnival has a setback of almost two centuries between the fall of the Serenissima in 1797 and the late 1770s when its philosophy began to be "dusted off" until it became an event of international resonance.

Carnevale 2020 Ca nigra lagoon resort

Festa a tema Pirati per il Carnevale Di Venezia 2020 presso Ca Nigra lagoon resort

Carnival in Venice 2022 at Hotel Saturnia - Serena singing "o mio babbino caro"

The history of Venice Carnival mask

The history of Venice Carnival masks is intertwined with the events of the city and the Republic of Venice. Venetian masks are not only a must-have accessory of the famous Venice Carnival, but have also been the protagonists of scandals, traditions and city customs outside of Casanova's wild parties.

The origins of the history of Venetian masks are initially divorced from the history of Carnival. While the first street festivities are attested as early as the year 1000, the use of masks was not regulated until the 1200s, and in the 1400s the order of Venetian mask makers, the "mascareri," was born.

History of Venetian masks: the origins

Although today the use of the mask is parallel to carnival celebrations, perhaps not everyone knows that Venetians were once masked for many months of the year, mainly for three reasons:

Carnival anciently ran from December 26 to Ash Wednesday;
the mask was worn as a "precaution" in risky business, such as gambling or shady exchanges between merchants and smugglers;
those who were masked "played" a role and as such could not be arrested for their borderline conduct.

The history of masks thus accompanies various requirements during the Republic of the Serenissima. Despite the most respectable laws, masquerade was allowed for centuries as a Venetian version of the Roman "panem et circenses," that is, a tolerated way of letting tensions between classes be resolved without escalating into extreme episodes. Beware, however: it was not only the subordinate classes who masqueraded to mock the nobility. Even aristocrats needed a certain anonymity in order to behave with a level of freedom unbecoming of their rank

Venice masks forbidden, masks allowed.

Certain social circles were over time affected by the prohibition or obligation to wear masks. Throughout the history of the Serenissima, there were successive laws prohibiting the wearing of masks in casinos, at night, in monasteries, and in postriboli (to mainly target the use of the Gnaga, the cat mask worn by male prostitutes). At the same time, the mask was compulsory for women going to the theater but forbidden for girls waiting for husbands.

As time went on, the mask was allowed only during Carnival and at special banquets: hence its strong connection with the famous Venetian festival. It fell permanently into disuse with the end of the Serenissima in 1797 and remained in the drawers of Venice for nearly 200 years.

Carnevale di venezia typical masks

As mentioned at the beginning, the **history of masks** is closely intertwined with Venetian life. Great masked celebrities, fictional characters or noble crafts have been immortalized in the city's iconography.

**Giacomo Casanova**: Venetian adventurer, intellectual and libertine, a great frequenter of the city's most prestigious and equivocal salons, is often portrayed masked;

The Plague Doctor: while the plague doctor once wore a mask with a long nose stuffed with disinfectant medicine for sanitary matters, his striking figure with an unmistakable profile has become a traditional mask;

**La Baùta**: complemented by tricorn and tabard, the Baùta is the quintessential Venetian mask, worn by men and women on so many occasions in the past. It may be white or richly ornamented, but it remains one of the stars of the Venice Carnival.

**Commedia dell'arte**: Theatrical, acrobatic and street performances often featured commedia dell'arte masks. Such disguises included careful details even on the clothing. The famous Venetian masks of **Pantalone**, an old to greedy merchant, followed by his daughter **Rosaura** and **Colombina**, the coquettish servant girl, have come down to us. Harlequin, the sly handyman, was often Colombina's fiancé.This mask of Bergamasque and French origin was "adopted" by the Venetian commedia dell'arte, becoming one of its symbols.

Many types of masks of various shapes and colors can be seen at the Venetian Carnival. Some master mascareri have even created a mask that covers only part of the face and call it Colombina, although the Commedia dell` Arte character of the same name did not wear a mask. This so-called half mask is often decorated with gold, silver, crystals and feathers.

The history of the masks: learn the art

When the mask was readmitted to Venice in 1979, the mascareri's workshops flourished again, a sign that the tradition had only been dormant under the ashes without ever dying out completely. Even today, along the calli you can find ateliers of **traditional Venetian clothes** and **period masks** and you can try your hand not only at mask decoration with fun workshops for adults and children:

* Venice Carnival Mask Decoration in the historic center near St. Mark's Square.

* Venice masks : creative workshops at the island of Burano.

On the other hand, if you want to experience the unforgettable emotions of this ancient Venetian art, you can participate in an original photo shoot in an antique costume and traditional Venetian mask offered by an atelier with a professional photographer! The choice is yours!

Sources and bibliography

Jeanjean, P. (1941). Carnival of Venice: theme and variations. United States: C. Fischer.