{"id":39050,"date":"2026-02-16T12:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/?p=39050"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:44:33","slug":"the-little-story-of-the-venice-carnival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/the-little-story-of-the-venice-carnival\/","title":{"rendered":"The little story… of the Venice Carnival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Venice Carnival transforms every winter the city on the water into a living theater, where masks and costumes mix history, mystery and festive sparkle. From its medieval origins to the canals today, the festival reveals centuries-old traditions and sumptuous shows.<\/p>\n

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While winter covers Venice<\/strong> with its last cold coat and the canals sparkle under the low sun, a national event warms the city and hearts: the famous Carnival<\/strong>. Scheduled from February 7 to 17, 2026<\/strong>, this celebration makes the city of the Doges radiate around the world. This festival, symbol of the Serenissime, finds its origins in the 11th century<\/strong>, with the first official mention in 1094<\/strong>, when an edict of the doge Vitale Falier authorized public celebrations before Lent.<\/p>\n

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A few decades later, in 1269, the Venetian Senate established Mardi Gras as a public holiday and allowed masks and costumes<\/strong> to be worn, laying the foundation for a unique social ritual. But this period was not just a reason to party. It allowed all the classes to meet and temporarily suspend hierarchies. Nobles, merchants and artisans mingled behind the masks, opting for anonymity and freedom of expression.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mix and bypass social hierarchies<\/h3>\n

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Over the centuries, costumes became more elaborate, incorporating figures from the Commedia dell’Arte<\/b> such as Arlequin, Colombina, and Pantalone, and iconic masks such as the bauta<\/b> (a white Larva mask covering the entire face but with a square jaw that allows the wearer to speak, eat, and drink, often worn with a tricorn hat and black cape) or the moretta <\/b>– from the Italian \u201cmoro,\u201d meaning dark (a small round black velvet mask with two large eye holes). Not to mention the crow’s beak mask<\/b>, directly inspired by the infamous attire of the 14th-century plague doctor (\u201cMedico della Peste<\/b>\u201d), which has become the symbol of the Venice Carnival.<\/p>\n

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Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In the XVIIIth century<\/strong>, a period marked by libertinism and the escapades of Giacomo di Casanova, the Carnival reached its climax with sumptuous balls, operas and various public shows<\/strong>. The European aristocracy becomes passionate about the event, making Venice a cultural showcase in the Baroque era.<\/p>\n

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The tradition came to an end in 1797, when Napoleon banned the festivities to avoid any social unrest.<\/strong> Under the Austrian domination in the 19th century, the festivals almost completely disappear. It was only from the 1970s<\/strong>, thanks to students and cultural associations, that the tradition was reborn<\/strong>. It is officially restored in the early 1980s, anchoring the celebration in the modern era without changing its ancestral codes and its sumptuous atmosphere of yesteryear.<\/p>\n

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The party today<\/h3>\n

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The festivities always begin with an opening show: the Flight of the Angel<\/strong>. Suspended by a cable above the crowd, a figure descends from the campanile of Saint-Marc to Saint-Marc square. Traditionally, it was a chosen person in the city who inaugurated the Carnival<\/strong>. Today, this role is often entrusted to a celebrity or media personality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Another highlight<\/strong> is the Festa delle Marie<\/strong> (Feast of Mary) which commemorates the liberation of twelve young Venetian women abducted by pirates in the Middle Ages<\/strong>. In our time, young girls dressed in traditional dresses roam the city, alongside parades, shows and private balls organized in the surrounding palaces.<\/p>\n

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Parades on the canals, with decorated gondolas and flamboyant costumes<\/strong>, make the carnival an event both on land and on water. Mask competitions also reward creativity.<\/p>\n

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Considerable revenues for Venice<\/h3>\n

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Today, the Carnival takes place over about ten days before Ash Wednesday, culminating on Fat Tuesday<\/strong>. The streets and canals are filled with thousands of spectators and tourists, including more than 150,000 on the first weekend<\/strong>. The event thus attracts a few million visitors per edition.<\/p>\n

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Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This popularity generates considerable revenue for Venice, up to 70 million euros spent by 567,000 foreign visitors on average <\/strong>according to the municipality. But as the city is mistreated by decades of over-tourism<\/strong> and needs to be preserved due to its fragile environment, the issue of tourist overcrowding remains a priority for the locals. Covid has also allowed residents to reclaim the event without travelers.<\/p>\n

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The Venice Carnival remains a unique blend of history, spectacle and culture<\/strong>, a celebration where age-old masks, costumes and traditions continue to captivate visitors from around the world, perpetuating its festive, elegant and inclusive spirit.<\/p>\n

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Read also : The little story \u2026 of the Parisian bistro<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Featured photo : Unsplash<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Venice Carnival transforms every winter the city on the water into a living theater, where masks and costumes mix history, mystery and festive sparkle. From its medieval origins to the canals today, the festival reveals centuries-old traditions and sumptuous shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"%%post_title%% %%sep%% %%sitetitle%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"The Venice Carnival transforms every winter the city on the water into a living theater, where masks and costumes mix history, mystery and festive sparkle.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[648],"tags":[243,568,169,368,762],"class_list":["post-39050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-little-stories","tag-culture-en","tag-europe-en","tag-festivites-en","tag-italy","tag-voyage-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}