KC’s Blog

Carnival is in full swing here in Italy, the past two weekends Anthony and I have seen kids running around the square in Monfalcone dressed up in costumes, everything from Pirates, to Spiderman, fairy Princesses to little kids in bunny suits, all throwing confetti and streamers at each other while the parents stand around watching. So Anthony suggested we head to Venice on Saturday the 17th to witness the ‘adult carnival’ first hand.
We arrived in Venice early evening and started the walk towards St. Marc’s square where the real party happens, stopping along the way at small bars to ‘warm up with a beer’

We walked along seeing people in masks, or wearing pink wigs, some were dressed up in costumes, but as we came close to the Rialto bridge I started to understand what we were in for, wall to wall people, music pouring out the bars, the vendors up and down the bridge selling everything to do with Carnival.

Out of the group of us I was the only one brave enough to buy a mask (of course). After a bit of coaxing and a few more glasses of wine I was ready to don my mask.That’s when I suddenly fit in, people would smile at me.

We continued our way through the winding streets of Venice taking in the atmosphere of celebration and fun. We knew we were close to St. Marc’s square as the music was grew louder and louder, we burst onto St. Marc’s square only to realize the music we could hear was a group of Carnival revelers drumming their own music, it was fantastic.
St. Marc’s square was truly amazing, wall to wall people; the buildings were lit up with beautiful coloured images from Pani Projectors.

We decided that because the band hadn’t started playing we needed to hit another bar to ‘warm up’. After a few more beers and some café corretto we traveled back to the square just in time for the Italian ska/reggae band. We danced to keep warm and enjoyed the sights of all the people dressed up in various costumes.

It was a sad revelation when we knew at 11 pm we had to head back to the train station to make sure we got the last train back to Monfalcone.
It was a fantastic experience and I’m sure Monfalcone’s celebration on Tuesday will be just as fun!