Carnevale Present (Yesterday, To Be Specific): 8 Views

 

Everyone out in the calli and campi yesterday for Carnevale wore masks, but there were hardly more than one or two dozen adults in costume... In just one year the whole relationship between Carnevale and masks has changed: the latter term now refers to Covid protection, not the papier machè (or plastic) sort that had become one of the city's most ubiquitous and recognizable commodities in the last three decades.

Before one year ago it would have surprised absolutely no one that the streets of Venice should be crowded on the last Sunday of Carnevale, but it was actually startling to find the Rialto Bridge so busy yesterday. Not as crowded as it would have been on any Sunday during Carnevale prior to this year--that is, so packed it's a challenge to get across it in either a decent time or temper--but with more people on it than I've seen there since 2019. And so, too, were the paths between the bridge and Piazza San Marco. Again, not so crowded as they used to be on a Carnevale weekend, when the entire area around Piazza San Marco had to be blockaded in an effort to keep crowd density from reaching dangerous levels, but filled with people--even as many of the shops have emptied out. 

There was no big stage in Piazza San Marco, no official events. The cafes Florian and Quadri were closed, as was pretty much every other business beneath the arcades--many for good. The Piazza was fuller than I'd seen it in over a year, with a higher percentage of Italian speakers--it's pretty much all I heard--than has been common there for, I suspect, for a very long time. I suspect many were from the mainland, from nearby, Mestre...

But, that written, I'll leave the rest to the images (the final one taken today, not yesterday).

 

 

 

 

One sign that much of the crowd came from outside Venice: people wait in line to enter the Disney Store

 

 

While a duo dressed in the Bauta wait on the dock for their two photographers to start shooting them, and some teens relax at water's edge, a trio + dog row past in a sanpierota.

Venetian schools are off this week for Carnevale and smaller children are out playing in costume: above, a caped reveler heads home with his parents for lunch today.