Mysterious costumed figures fill Venice during the city's carnival, which runs until the end of the month. Angela Long joins in
It's like a scene from an opera, or maybe The Phantom of the Opera. The hero, in breeches, brocade tailcoat and feathered hat, is inscrutable behind a gold mask. His lady, who faces the other way, is also masked. If he is splendid, she is magnificent, her red-and-black gown cascading into metres of embroidery and ruffle.
Behind them is a familiar scene of sky, bell towers, domes and water, water, everywhere. A painted backdrop? No, it's the real thing: Venice in the glory of its pre-Lenten carnival. Resurrected in the late 1990s, the carnevale - literally, "farewell to meat" - dates back to Christian antiquity. It happens in the 10 days or so leading up to Ash Wednesday and the season of abstinence, so the grand finale is on Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.
This year's carnival started yesterday and runs until the end of the month, during which time the streets and canals of la Serenissima will teem with extraordinary costumed figures.
The festival includes scores of events, some official, many spontaneous, and the great thing is that you don't have to fork out large sums to attend a ball or afternoon tea. Just walk down the street and, anywhere in this stunning city on the water, you'll have a visual feast.
St Mark's Square is the focus; a stage at one end hosts regular parades of the more extraordinary costumes. But at any time, once the carnival is in full swing, in the square and the many passages leading to it, the masked beauties will strut, stately and mute. It is considered dignified to maintain a mysterious silence once in costume, so the lords and ladies, the ships in full sail, the Chinese mandarins, tend to communicate with gracious nods and gestures.
In the square a pretty pair in pale blue and white could be Royal Doulton figurines come to life. Over here a woman in an autumnal costume, in yellows, oranges, tawny browns and sage green, scattered with silk leaves, has a headdress to match. Over there are two magnificent modernist creatures in purple, with billowing sails. You can spend hours gawping at eye-popping get-ups. There are no eve-of-school-play rag-and-bone affairs. It is all very beautiful.
People spend months, and mountains of money, preparing their costumes. They are elaborate, colourful and varied, although most are loosely in the style of the late 17th century. One rather sombre variant for men - a black cloak with an elongated bird mask - is a reproduction of a popular plague-doctor costume that appeared across Europe.
"Sometimes you will see a reflection in the carnival costumes of the way the economy is going," says Bruno Busetti of the Italian embassy in Dublin. "If the wallets are thin, people perhaps pull in a little bit." This year's theme is "the Dragon and the Lion", so there should be plenty of takes on Turandot, Puccini's opera set in China.
If you want to join in, Venice has expert costume-makers, but don't expect much change from the price of a second-hand car. You could hire outfits from companies such as Atelier Tiepolo, which during the carnival sets up shop in places such as the famous Danieli Hotel, as well as its own premises.
The ubiquitous masks, a much simpler way to get into the carnival spirit, have a curious history. They were immensely popular all year around in Venice about 800 years ago. Crime and licentiousness were rife, and anonymity was handy. By 1608 the city fathers found it necessary to restrict mask-wearing to the carnival period and some banquets. Mask-wearing, their decree declared, was "a serious threat to the republic".
Busetti says the masks were a device to hide the identities of those settling scores or attempting seductions. "But, nowadays, the whole thing is really a display of fantasy."
If you want to take the risk and be a proper masquerader, the choice on the streets is rich and varied, with everything from cardboard cat masks for a few euro - and very pretty they are, too - to fantastic designer models from specialist shops, costing 10 times as much.
During last year's carnival the weather was fabulous, with brilliant blue skies and sunshine, although it was cold, especially on the feet. After all, you're padding around on ancient stones set above deep, cold water, so warm socks and boots are essential.
Venice floods regularly; last December parts of the city, including St Mark's, were under 20cm (eight inches) of water - the depth by which La Serenissima has sunk in the past 100 years. The debate about how to save the city rages on, although executive action is being taken. The government of Silvio Berlusconi has, controversially, approved a multibillion-euro plan to construct a series of 80 underwater barriers at the mouths of the neighbouring lagoons. Bold and whole-hearted, the scheme has its critics, who say too much money is being spent on a plan that will harm both the tidal patterns and the wider environment. So see the carnival while the city that hosts it is stillaround.
WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO GET THERE
The Doge's Ball (www.ballodeldoge.com), said to be the best enactment of Venetian baroque, takes place next Saturday at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta. The pace picks up as the carnevale reaches its climax; the Mascheranda, or masked ball, which takes place the following night, should be a lively affair, but it weighs in at €440 a ticket. This includes dinner, classical music, games, dancing and, the carnival website declares, "the great game of transgression and seduction". Book with Compagnia Pantaleon on www.tragicomica.it or, if your Italian is up to it, call 00-39-41-721102.
For something less hard on the wallet, a Saturday-morning performance of Baroque music in Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, with a cocktail before the 11am start, is a good way to begin the carnival's wildest day. You can book an €80 ticket with Club Culturale Italiano, whose programme of events is listed at www.meetingeurope.com.
Or, to really soak up the Venice experience, why not try one of the numerous events that involve a gondola journey?
There are many other events, which you can trace through the slightly eccentric carnival website, www.carnivalofvenice.com. But if you do as we did - assisted, admittedly, by beautiful weather - there is no need to spend: just walk and watch. You'll have a ball anyway.
We stayed at the Hotel Ai Mori d'Oriente (www.hotelaimoridoriente.it), a pretty place with, as its name suggests, oriental-themed bedrooms. It's comfortable, and although it is a good walk from St Mark's, it has a vaporetto (water-bus) stop just around the corner. Double rooms during carnival time cost from €210. Going more upmarket, you could stay at the five-star Gritti Palace (www.gritti.hotelinvenice.com) for about €320 for a double room.
As in all cities, there are some modestly-priced hotels around the railway station, which is not too bad an area. Stella Alpina (www.hotel- stellaalpina.com), on Calle Priuli, for example, has rooms costing from €45 a night; it seems a reasonable place for the price. Venere.com is a hotels website that has a good selection in Venice.
If gawking at costumes doesn't fill the whole day (although it can), there are more churches, galleries and splendid homes than you can swing a cat mask at. I especially liked the Ca d'Oro (Calle della Ca d'Oro, 3933, Cannaregio, 00-39-41-5238790), which was especially glorious in Venice's dazzling winter sunshine. And don't miss the recently revamped Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, 701 Dorsoduro). The Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace), on Piazza San Marco, is a fascinating place to visit, as well as a major gathering place for the masked revellers. The famous covered Bridge of Sighs, over the Rio di Palazzo, designed by Antonio Contino, was the last journey for many prisoners in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Aer Lingus flies direct to Venice Marco Polo airport. Ryanair begins flying from Dublin to Venice Treviso airport on April 28th.