The world’s most delicious festival – Carnival in Venice

This years theme is ‘The world’s most delicious festival” and Venice is full of new surprises for you. The annual Carnival of Venice originated in the year 1162, and although it was stamped out by the French in 1797, it was reintroduced in 1979. Venice’s annual celebration of masks, costumes and history opened Sunday with the Flight of the Angel ceremony in St. Mark’s Square. The annual spectacle features a beauty pageant winner dressed in a Carnival costume who descends from the square’s iconic bell tower as she scatters rose petals into the adoring crowd.

During these few days, the town goes crazy and is filled with people in a party mood. According to the research department of Vela, a firm linked to the Venice public transport company, during the celebrations the number of tourists in the city increases by an average of 39%.

The celebrations kick off with the “Marie” procession: 12 girls – chosen to impersonate the less affluent young ladies who, according to tradition, were given a dowry donated by the Doge so that they could get married – walk to St. Mark’s Square across narrow alleys, small squares and bridges. It is a real blast from the past.

At the stroke of noon, it is time for the Angel’s flight. Amid drums beating at a frantic pace and confetti pouring from the sky over the heads of the crowd gathered in front of St. Mark’s Basilica (on Sunday, the opening day of the Carnival, there were 70,000 people), the winged godmother flies over the part of the square from St. Mark’s bell tower to the Doge’s Palace, hanging from a rope.

Every day, twice a day at 11 am and 3 pm, a “best costume” competition also takes place in St. Mark’s Square’s Gran Teatro. Contestants parade on a stage, showing off their costumes, masks and wigs. At the end of the show, the audience chooses the winners of the day.

From February 12th to the 17th, both the sky and the sea in the Republic of Venice’s shipyards will be illuminated by fireworks, with a theatrical staging created in collaboration with Venice’s La Fenice theater.

On February 17, the 2015 edition will come to an end, with the coronation of the winning Maria of 2015 and the “Svolo del Leon,” where the winged Lion symbolizing the city, painted on a large cloth, will be lifted up the bell tower and fly over the audience.