Two Kinds of Carnevale Flight

4 February 2018

During the run of Carnevale in the couple of years before the pandemic, crowds began to make themselves increasingly felt on Thursdays and Fridays, before completely overwhelming the city during the weekend--to the point that the area all around Piazza San Marco in every possible direction become dangerously packed. Above, you see an example of it in the Piazza itself for the "Flight of the Angel", below, on the Riva degli Schiavoni, extending all the way from the Piazza to the Arsenale, as day-trippers wait to board their lancioni (large private tourist boats carrying them back to their original departure points outside the historic center--for example, from the Tronchetto parking structure). 

These kinds of uncontrolled weekend crowds led to a flight out of the city during these days on the part of many Venetian residents not obligated to remain in town to work.

Of course since the arrival of the pandemic crowd control hasn't been much of an issue--but work has disappeared too.

6 February 2016