The Corona Virus Closes Down Carnevale (Yesterday)

The most popular types of mask of the 2020 edition of Venice's Carnevale turned out to be those worn by the two people (above) walking past workmen already busy dismantling Piazza San Marco's festival stage two days ahead of schedule

Taking no chances with a novel virus that is still a long way from being understood, regional authorities shut down Venice's Carnevale two days ahead of schedule. 

Italy has the highest documented number of cases of the virus of any country outside of Asia and Italian authorities are taking the matter very seriously. Villages have been quarantined, and across Northern Italy public events have been canceled, and schools, universities, and museums closed until at least the beginning of March. Giorgio Armani live-streamed his recent runway show rather than stage it before an audience and even the biggest match-up of the country's professional soccer league this week will likely be played in an empty stadium.

Given the volume of tourists from all over the world passing through Venice, and the fact that 1 out of every 3 Venetian residents is over the age of 65 (and the virus appears to be most deadly to those who are older or have underlying health issues), Venice had little choice but to cancel what remained of the carnival.

Not only cultural institutions and schools here, but even Catholic masses have been closed to the public. 

There is no sense of panic, and no gaping holes on the shelves of supermarkets at this time; the Rialto fruit and vegetable markets and fish market are open.

But the streets here are emptier, not just compared to the crowds that would normally pack them during the last days of Carnevale, but to those of other quiet winter periods. 

These images taken yesterday in the late afternoon, at a time when Piazza San Marco and the area in front of the Palazzo Ducale would typically have been packed during Carnevale, suggest, I hope, the broader situation in the city right now, which can at times be eerily quiet--even for someone who loves its quiet. 

I appreciate the city's caution though, and worry for those living under authoritarian regimes where even a public health threat of this sort can politicized, and considered only from the vantage point of how it might be used to boost the power of the "dear leader" or, as the case may be, the self-proclaimed "everyone's favorite president." (Indeed, the latest recipient of one such country's highest civilian honor has already taken to the airwaves to announce the virus is nothing but the "common cold.") North Korea is one such country, Russia is another, and my native land, whose thuggish autocrat admires the leaders of such regimes, is, I fear, a third. 

Here's a link to the best discussion I've seen of the virus: it encourages caution, but warns against panic.

 

Each of the black boxes making up the stage backdrop is a video screen, which under normal conditions would (at the time of this capture) have been beaming the costume competition--and no end of commercials--held in the Piazza every afternoon of the Carnevale's run.

The molo was strikingly empty--both of those looking to be seen in costume and those eager (sometimes even frantic, as in the two images below) to do the seeing

Here's what the scene was like in the same area of the molo during the last days of Carnevale in 2014

And here's what it was like in front of the Palazzo Ducale that same year--and every year other than this one

All dressed up with nowhere to go

Some of those in costume took refuge in a favorite spot to be seen during Carnevale, Caffè Florian, though far fewer than usual

And for those chatting under the arcades just outside the cafe, the dismantling of the Carnevale stage served as a background 

This costumed family enjoyed the scenery well away from Piazza San Marco, at the Rialto fish market