Venice Carnival

Every year, just before Lent, the Venetians enjoy a 12-day escapade as they step back in time to the 13th century, when wearing a mask was a part of life for much of the year and not just during the Carnival. The townspeople would use masks to hide from gambling creditors and for plenty more subversive reasons, endowing the traditional Carnivale characters such as the eerily pale, beaked and bespectacled ‘medico’ or the hard-chinned ‘bauta’ with an extra sense of risk and mystery. Today a visitor can pair one with a cloak and tricorne hat to join the locals, or watch the fancy-dress posers and revellers partying all across the island, late into the dark February night.

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February festival favourites