Venice Carnival

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The Venice carnival is one of the most beautiful and spectacular carnival in the world. The city is filled with colorful masks that fill the historic center with joy.

Thousands of tourists flock to Venice in the last days of the carnival. Its origins are very ancient: the first evidence dates back to a document of the Doge Vitale Falier of 1094, where it speaks of public entertainment and in which the word Carnival is mentioned for the first time. Through the anonymity that masks and costumes guaranteed, a sort of leveling of all social divisions was obtained and even the public derision of the authorities and aristocracy was authorized.

These concessions were largely tolerated and considered a providential outlet for the tensions and discontent that inevitably arose within the Republic of Venice, which placed strict limits on its citizens on issues such as common morals and public order. The joyful and incognito participation in this collective disguise rite was, and still is, the very essence of Carnival. A carefree period of liberation from one's daily habits and from all prejudices and slanders, even towards oneself. It was all part of a large masked stage, where actors and spectators merged into a single and immense procession of figures and colors.

In un'edizione del Carnevale verso la metà del Cinquecento, tra le varie manifestazioni e spettacoli organizzati in città, fu realizzato un evento straordinario che fece molto scalpore: un giovane acrobata turco riuscì, con il solo ausilio di un bilanciere, ad arrivare alla cella campanaria del campanile di San Marco camminando, nel frastuono della folla sottostante in delirio, sopra una lunghissima corda che partiva da una barca ancorata sul molo della Piazzetta. Nella discesa, invece, raggiunse la balconata del Palazzo Ducale, porgendo gli omaggi al Doge.

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