Carnavale di Venezia !!!

Today was one of the most incredible days since I arrived here. I took and 8:30 train to Venice for the world famous Venetian Carnavale. Everyone dresses up in costumes, and walks around the city to Piazza San Marco. The entire city of Venice is beautiful, the architecture is rustic and you can see the moorish influence as well as the Renaissance influence in the buildings.


The streets and water ways were full of people. Of course there were gondolas and water taxis everywhere. They are pretty expensive, but you can ride them with a bunch of people and split the cost.


Like I mentioned earlier Piazza San Marco is where all the people congregate. Here you can see all the people in costumes and all the tourists from all over the place. More importantly there are several important buildings including one of my favorite, il Palazzo Ducale or the Doge's Palace. It's a true Italian style palazzo built after Michellozzo's Medici Palazzo, but with moorish and oriental influences. The building is beautiful and is now a museum and a centerpiece of the city.


I didn't get a chance to go into the Palazzo Ducale or the Duomo or any of the other churches, but it wasn't the right time. Carnavale and all of it's festivities were the most important and I enjoyed being a part of something truly incredible. Next time I go to Venezia, which I plan on doing a couple of more times I am going to try to see some Venetian art. Of course Tiziano, Giorgione, Tintoretto and all the other important influential Venetian artists are on my list.


I had an awesome time and I love Venezia. It's one of the most awe-inspiring places I've ever visited. I'll try to have some art to go along with the beautiful photos, but honestly there was no room to draw in Venice with so many people around. I have some very, very quick sketches which I'll upload as soon as I stop being lazy. In my defense it's been a long day of walking non stop. So more after I recover.


-R