These are certainly not the most elaborate costumes I saw, but the glowing parasols are the point.
Carnival (or Carnevale, if you prefer) isn’t something I gorge on every year; I tend to take a few little nibbles around the edges. And this year wouldn’t have been any different except that a former colleague from National Geographic, photographer Tomasz Tomaszewski, said he was coming with a friend to make pictures, and asked if I could give a logistical hand.
For three intense days (Thursday to Saturday) we wandered around — if you can call eight miles a day “wandering” — and it turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. This doesn’t mean I can’t wait till next year to do it all again, but either the quality of the costumes was higher than in some years past, or I’ve changed in some indefinable way, or something.
You can never go wrong with dogs.
I hope you enjoy these snaps, because the story of Carnevale 2020 has not had a happy ending. Northern Italy (specifically the regions of Lombardia and Veneto) are in the tightening clutch of the COVID-19 epidemic. On Sunday there were only 20,000 revelers out of an expected 100,000.
In fact, the curtain fell on Carnevale two days early – Sunday nght at midnight, to be precise. I don’t know that this has ever happened, but missing the culmination of festivities on Tuesday (Martedi’ Grasso) has certainly made the scheduled participants unhappy. The 12 Marias are in tears because now we’ll never know who was the fairest of them all.
That’s just the beginning. The governor of the Veneto has decreed many decrees prohibiting events or places of any sort where people might gather in groups larger than (insert small number here). Until March 1 the schools, universities, and museums are closed. There will be no masses celebrated in church, even on Ash Wednesday, not even in the basilica of San Marco. Sporting events are all canceled.
But let me share a look back at a few sunny days when Carnival was fully fledged and nobody was worrying about anything more important than where to finally find a place to sit down.
Trailing clouds of glory, this couple proceeded at a stately pace beneath puffs and cherubs. The stately pace was more or less imposed by the weight of the costume (some of them went up to 26 pounds, or 12 kg), and walking slowly also made it easy for photographers to snap away. The most elaborate costumes made many stops on the stroll around the Piazza because almost all of this activity was undertaken precisely to be photographed. Just like the casinos want you to steal their ashtrays (I was told once…), people dress up here to be photographed. You can’t possibly offend them by asking. Or not asking and just going ahead, shooting away, which is more common.Photographers were swarming like freaking locusts.Everybody was happy.All it took was for one person to start shooting and there was a sudden rush from everywhere and the wild fluttering sound of camera shutters. It was like seagulls attacking a slice of pizza.She was only pretending to play but it looked like she was having a grand time.I give her credit for willingness to walk around with an entire fabric-store supply of material draped on and around her, but it makes me feel tired and slightly smothered just looking at her.The roses…..It seems slightly Zen to come all the way from Tokyo to sit by yourself, but perhaps her cavalier was out getting her cigarettes or something. Tomasz is immortalizing her and her cigarette holder; she told him that she had made the costume (or had it made; in any case, it wasn’t rented, as many people do to simplify matters).
There were far too many 18th-century-Mozart-Casanova-Marie-Antoinette costumes roaming around for my taste, but this French couple took it to a whole new level. They (or she) makes the costumes, and she told me that they changed their outfit every day — wigs and all. I secretly called her Melisande, but her real name is Charlotte and she comes from La Rochelle. She and her friends — two men were in tow — drove to Venice with their steamer trunks loaded with this glorious garb.Good from the back, as well.She was too perfect. Perhaps she was listening for the distant rumble of the tumbrels?Speaking of French, this squadron was a sight to behold– three admirals, home from the fleet after a vigorous few months of bashing the English (I imagine).These cafes are expensive, but if you can find a seat they’re the best place to give your costume a rest for a while.If there’s anywhere the standard period costume really looks good (apart from the Caffe’ Florian, I mean), it’s in a gondola.She needed a better position than a mere cafe table and she got it atop the balustrade of the entrance to the campanile.I began to yearn for simplicity, the way you yearn for a pickle after a hot pastrami sandwich. These two Italian ladies were just what I needed.As was this girl.Dotted nylons and sparkly sneakers — that’s her Carnevale outfit and I really like it.Then this vision rose from the sea, a magical naiad combining fantasy, glamour, and dazzling simplicity. Even the pose was perfect.This extraordinary headdress is all reef — coral, algae, shells.The pictures were all of Venice and water. If we have to have acqua alta, could more of these creatures appear, please?I forgot all about Melisande when I lost my heart to Ondine.At the Rialto, another breath of non-18th-century air. Very few elements involved (not like the mountain of material with the white silk roses), but all the better for that. Finding a great hat that wasn’t a tricorn isn’t deeply difficult, but you have to realize that that’s really what your outfit needs.I entertain myself by noticing reflections, and this one of the basilica’s facade was a nice change from the parade of people.You can only look at so many costumes before your eyes seek something drastically different. Here’s a shop at the end of a long sunny street with people apparently walking through it. Photographer Tomaszewski, or his shadow, has paused at the right to look at something. Or nothing. His eyes might have been getting tired too.
So very glad you’re back! Really missed your acutely observed comments, and keen eye for the image that really works.
We’re not fond of Venice during Carnival, it’s a period, like the warmer months, that we avoid on our visits, but there must have been many wilted feathers with the curtailment of it all. I must admit, I can’t see the point of going simply to dress up and strut around, parading without a role to play- and if the underpinnings were to be authentic, some of those outfits would have been hell to wear, not only from weight, but also by ordeal by corset!
I’d not have been happy if I had by some mischance, been there, as I understand all the places like the Accademia are closed currently, and I never fail to find some detail new to me in there every time I go.
Thank you for returning. You have been missed.
Were I still the editor of a magazine (remember those?), you would be my Venice correspondent. No, my Veneto correspondent. No, no, my Italy correspondent. Oh, what the hell, just go anywhere and send your wonderful words and pictures. The check is in the mail.
We were delighted to get your email today and be able to access this site, YOU ARE BACK!!! How wonderful! Our day is brightened and we shall celebrate 🎉 with a glass or two of Proseco 🥂. We have greatly missed your blog. Thank you for keeping our beloved Venice alive in our minds.
Like Ella B above I don’t really get the point of dressing up just to strut around piazza san Marco, but I’m glad someone does. The pictures and some of the outfits are wonderful. The two ladies in tabari(?) was another view of carnevale, seldom seen outside Venice. I guess everyone can revel in their own way. Lovely!
15 Comments
So very glad you’re back! Really missed your acutely observed comments, and keen eye for the image that really works.
We’re not fond of Venice during Carnival, it’s a period, like the warmer months, that we avoid on our visits, but there must have been many wilted feathers with the curtailment of it all. I must admit, I can’t see the point of going simply to dress up and strut around, parading without a role to play- and if the underpinnings were to be authentic, some of those outfits would have been hell to wear, not only from weight, but also by ordeal by corset!
I’d not have been happy if I had by some mischance, been there, as I understand all the places like the Accademia are closed currently, and I never fail to find some detail new to me in there every time I go.
Thank you for returning. You have been missed.
Were I still the editor of a magazine (remember those?), you would be my Venice correspondent. No, my Veneto correspondent. No, no, my Italy correspondent. Oh, what the hell, just go anywhere and send your wonderful words and pictures. The check is in the mail.
Well, I may not be worthy of the praise, but I more than deserve the check. Thanks!!
Lovely to have you back!
Yay!! You’re back! Delighted to re-sign up to subscribe, thank you so much for letting me know.
So glad you found me! I would miss your blogs so much!
Oh Boy! At last! Another edition of IANMTU has finally arrived. And, as always, just like her adopted city’s Carnival, it’s a Grand event.
Who knew “chicken wire” and ” glamorous” could be found in the same article?
Of course, being a writer-extraordinaire, Ms. Zwingle could captivate us by simply retelling the story of her latest trip to the corner grocers.
And we await your selfie of YOUR costume, dots or not.
I accept the challenge. Be careful what you wish for.
Oh Boy! At Last! My missing IANMTU newsletter has shown up.
And, just like the canals, it’s a Grand thing indeed.
For where, other then our Erla’s Venice, does one find “glamor” and “chicken wire” in the same photo?
Of course, Ms. Zwingle – writer extraordinaire that she is – can make a trip to the corner grocer sound like afternoon tea with the Queen.
Heavens, Michael — keep this up and you will permanently block my brain. Thanks, though!
Glad you are back. I filled the subscribed link but I’m not sure it went through.
Dian
We were delighted to get your email today and be able to access this site, YOU ARE BACK!!! How wonderful! Our day is brightened and we shall celebrate 🎉 with a glass or two of Proseco 🥂. We have greatly missed your blog. Thank you for keeping our beloved Venice alive in our minds.
Thanks! I’ll do my best to deserve your enthusiasm. (No pressure….)
Great to have you back Erla!
Like Ella B above I don’t really get the point of dressing up just to strut around piazza san Marco, but I’m glad someone does. The pictures and some of the outfits are wonderful. The two ladies in tabari(?) was another view of carnevale, seldom seen outside Venice. I guess everyone can revel in their own way. Lovely!
Cheers!