Image: REUTERS
The long-established Venice Carnival warmed up over the weekend. With wintry temperatures, the lagoon city turned into a scene with street art, masks and music. Several thousand people lined the banks of the Grand Canal in orderly lines to witness the opening of the 2023 Venice Carnival.
Singers, dancers, acrobats
A parade of masks and performers marched from Santa Lucia train station to St. Mark’s Basin. The parade, led by a large unicorn head, was attended by about 50 artists dressed in the sumptuous creations of the Venetian ateliers. An opera quartet with extraordinary voices, dancers and acrobats entertained the audience. The show included all the symbols of the Venetian carnival tradition. The main time of the carnival hustle and bustle are the ten days up to Shrove Tuesday. Venice’s carnival ends with a final chord – a concert in St. Mark’s Square. One of the traditional highlights of the varied program is the well-known “Flight of the Angels”, in which a more or less prominent personality – secured by a rope – swings down from the Campanile to St. Mark’s Square.
The “classic” masks and motifs of the 17th century are particularly popular, often “products of high tailoring”, as a Venetian woman proudly put it. These include the colorful Arlecchino, the devious villain Brighella or the “dottore”, the plague doctor with the beaky nose.
Source: Nachrichten
