Russian Trail at the Venice Carnival
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Russian Trail at the Venice Carnival

It’s just time to sing ‘Return to Serenissima’ than ‘Return to Sorrento’! Hey, tourists! Are you scared by the flood in Venice? But what about the carnival?

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It was assumed that in February, as in previous years, the city would be flooded with carnival processions, parties, fancy-dress balls, aquacades (oh, anything but that!), and ‘Flight of the Angel’ from the San Marco bell tower.

But when in November 2019, the pearl of the Adriatic was flooded, near-future visitors from all over the world canceled their hotel bookings. Booking sites sounded the alarm - in some hotels, up to half of the rooms could remain unoccupied.

Last fall, the image of the Most Serene Republic was greatly spoiled by the media. TV channels and newspapers spared no words. Just look at the photos of gondolas thrown ashore with holes in their sides, the St. Mark's Cathedral altar peeking out from the water... As the president of the Venetian Association of Hoteliers Vittorio Bonacini ironized (biting irony) in his blog, "we were literally washed away by this media tsunami."

His deputy, hotelier Stefania Stea, gave the interview against the backdrop of the channels returning to normal operations, convincing the people that “everything is dry.” “It's a bit chilly, of course, but it's February. It has always been like this,” she smiled sweetly at the camera.

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Although the water level went down, the consequences of the flood can be seen everywhere: collapsed masonry, broken mooring pins, intense expression faces of the staff at the hotel receptions.

“We now have another misfortune - the notorious Asian coronavirus,” complained the hotel owner Antonio Simeone. “There are a lot of tourists from these countries. It’s just right now for everyone to walk with the ‘plague doctor’ on the heads ... ” Starting from the 17th century when the bubonic plague broke out in Europe, a ‘big-nosed’ mask resembling a bird's beak became an integral element of the Venetian carnivals. Nobody knew that people would speak of it again in the 21st century.

Despite all the troubles, the carnival is going around Venice. It started on February 8th and will end on the 25th. There are much less visitors this year than in previous years. When there were no disasters or man-made threats, the carnival city was simply crowded. “You can watch and participate once, but I won’t go there anymore. I’d better watch it on TV,” Marie, a student from Bologna, told me about ten years ago.

The carnival has its own official opening ceremony. On the first day, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Cannaregio Canal turns into a peculiar stage on the water, where the most unthinkable watercraft make their performance. The next day, the festival continues with the regatta held by the Venetian rowing associations - the gondoliers.

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Since February 15, the function is finally transferred to land. The Festival, or Marie Parade, begins - the walking parade of the ladies wearing the traditional Venetian dresses. The lady who wins has a great future.

Meanwhile, there are carnival processions, music, dancing and other fun throughout Venice, day and night!

Competition for the best carnival mask among the adults is held on February 23d, and among the children - on Feb 24th. On many days, theatrical performances are held throughout the city about famous doges and their sworn enemies, about uprisings and bloodsheds.

A real festival cannot go without wines and snacks. Probably, as during the carnival, everything happens ‘on the go’ and ‘on the run’, the specialty of the carnival is chichetti - a small, one-bite snack (one might say, mini-bruschetta) made from whatever comes to hand. It can be a sandwich with olive paté, or half a hard-boiled egg, or anchovy on crackers, or a tomato and shrimp pierced by a toothpick, and etc. Well, you understand.

On the final day of the carnival, Marie Contest (Festa delle Marie) 2020 is held – ‘Marie’, the most skillful in sewing (or this is the merit of her tailors), is chosen who will play a very important role exactly in a year.

At five p.m., the culmination of an almost three-week carefree marathon starts. ‘Marie’ of the previous year (Linda Pani) has to climb up to the bell tower and, turning into an angel, fulfil the dream of her life - fly over the square. This tradition was revived in Venice about 20 years ago recalling the ancient story of how pirates kidnapped young Venetian girls, but local guys went in pursuit and freed their brides.

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In 2019, Linda won the Marie Contest appearing at the carnival in the costume of ... a Snow Maiden. The Italian fashion designer Francesco Briggi added a long, tight plait to Linda’s image that reached heels, and the headdress was as if drawn from the Snow Queen’s crown from the Soviet cartoon. Moreover, Linda speaks Russian and has been to our country.

Of course, the same pen-pushers who wrote that Venice ‘sank to the bottom’ in November, tracked and inflated the ‘Russian trail’ at the carnival. The matter is, the second ‘Marie’ of 2019, Eleanora Boscolo, also studies Russian! And her younger sister Chiara went to Russia with her classmates!!! The Snow Maiden is a native Russian heritage, a kind of an angel.

Has the ‘Russian trail’ added any optimism to the Venetian hoteliers or not, we could not find out so far. However, the hotels are fully booked, anyway.

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