For the first time in two years, the Venice Carnival returns to an in-person event, after it was canceled in 2020 and entirely virtual in 2021.
The 2022 edition runs from Saturday 12 February to Tuesday 1 March (Shrove Tuesday).
Traditionally, the celebrations begin with the “Venetian Festival on water” on the Rio di Cannaregio, and end with the spectacular Svolo del Leon, the breathtaking flight of the Angel from St. Mark’s bell tower.
Sadly, due to the pandemic, the most iconic events of the Venice Carnival have been canceled this year. There will be no pageants, parades of floats, performance stages on the square, and the “flights” of the Angel, the Eagle and the Leon on Piazza San Marco have also been canceled.
This year the idea has been to dislocate small in-person events throughout the lagoon city, and broadcast some of the most evocative shows live on the Facebook page of the Venice Carnival and on the Youtube playlist of Venezia Unica.
The competition for the most beautiful mask will take place online, with the chance to apply at posts in Piazza San Marco and Piazza Ferretto in Mestre. There are also various cultural events scheduled in theaters and museums.
The three main events of the 2022 edition of the Venice Carnival are the Venice Wonder Time, the Nebula Solaris Water Show in the Arsenale and the Carnival Official Dinner Show.
Venezia Wonder Time features music, circus-theater and clowning performances scheduled for Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February, and every day during ‘Shrove week’, from Thursday 24 January to Tuesday 1 March, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
An acrobatics show and water games are scheduled at the Arsenale, on Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February and from Thursday 24 February to Tuesday 1, organized by the Opera Fiammae and Viorica. The shows will be offered twice a day, at 6.45pm and 9.15pm, and only a set number of people will be admitted (reservations are required on this website).
At €500 per person, the Carnival Official Dinner Show is not for everyone’s pockets, but those who can afford it will enjoy a masked dinner-show created by Antonia Sautter, a Venice-based atelier that makes costumes and fashion and is famous for organizing the ‘most sumptuous and exclusive event” in the world, the Ballo del Doge. The Carnival Dinner Show will bring participants back to the Venice of the 1600s, with doges and queens, courtesans and acrobats, burlesque numbers and actor performances. The show is scheduled from February 24 to March 1 at Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, a Venetian palace facing the Grand Canal in Cannaregio. Reservations are available here.
For details about the Venice Carnival, visit the official website.
