Escapades in Italian: Carnevale a Venezia!

Well, on Feb 8 & 9 I had quite the whirlwind trip to Venice for its last hoorah of this year's Carnevale. I left Florence with my friend Brad mid-morning on Friday 8th (11am), arriving in Venice around 1pm. We promptly found a little enoteca where we could grab a bite to eat. I had a delicious ham sandwich while Brad snacked on some Venetian specialties, mostly of the fried variety.

After lunch it was time for some serious Carnevale costume enjoyment. So we headed to Piazza San Marco where it all goes down. They had a large stage area set up and starting around 3pm they had a costume contest. But well before that time all the various people in costumes hang out in the piazza to give people photo-op time. So much money gets spent on these elaborate costumes that they want to show them off for people to enjoy them. Luckily we had gorgeous weather all day so sitting outside for a few hours in the sun was great. Might I add that we also decided to take in the sights whilst drinking perhaps the most expensive espresso I'll ever drink from a caffe in the piazza.

Once we had our fill we decided we needed to finally purchase our own masks. It was really hard to choose something because there are just so many masks, and they range from cheap and tacky to expensive and gorgeous. We also decided we needed to get in some traditional Venetian Carnevale treats. In Italy, during the period before lent, or what is better known as carnevale, every region has its own specialty desserts or sweets which you can usually get from a pasticceria. For example, in Rome they have Frappe e Castagnole, in Florence they have Cenci (same things as Frappe) and Frittelle (much different dough from Rome's Castagnole), in Naples they have Chiacchiere (also the same as Frappe), and in Venice they have something called a Frittella as well, but it is a little different from the Florentine dessert (they are larger in Venice and are normally filled with cream and have raisins). The Venetian Frittelle were very good.

With all the walking around we were doing, we finally decided to grab a drink someplace where we could grab a seat before dinner. Of course we were smart and went to place on the complete opposite side of the island from where we were and where we would be eating dinner, but what's a little more exercise. Once we finally made it dinner, thoroughly hungry, we feasted on some much missed seafood. It was so great and the restaurant was pretty off the beaten track from tourists so prices were reasonable as well. (Osteria Bea Vita)

By the time we finished dinner it was probably a little after 11pm so we headed out on foot, of course, for some Carnevale evening fun. We caught the tail end of a concert in a piazza and then headed off on a wild goose hunt for a some club that was supposed to be open and having a party. We never found the club and after at least an hour (if not more) of looking for it, we decided to try another place. At the new place we hung out and made a friend. Our friend, a native Venetian named Marco, took us around the island once the club closed (at 4am) and showed us Marco Polo's house. We enjoyed Piazza San Marco without the pigeons or throngs of tourists and he introduced us to a place near the Rialto bridge where we could get a coffee and hang out for the few remaning hours before our train would take us back to Florence, leaving around 8am and getting us home around 10.

And that was my 23 hour trip (literally from Florence and back again) to Venice for Carnevale!