The Venice Carnival Dates

Two masks pose on the dock of Saint Mark. The background shows the basin of Saint Mark and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore . Many carnivals are in the world but the one in Venice is unique and beyond compare. No need to explain it. Its historical past and the scene where it takes place, a city that time simply has not changed.

Its Carnival origins are very ancient. The first official document that declares the Carnival of Venice a public holiday is an edict of 1296, when the Senate of the Republic declared it a holiday the day before Lent.

At this time, and for many centuries that followed, the Carnival lasted six weeks, from December 26 to Ash Wednesday, although the celebrations were sometimes made to begin as early as the first days of October.

Citizens who wear masks and costumes can totally conceal their identity and thus cancel any form of personal belonging to social classes, sex, religion. Everyone can establish attitudes and behaviors based on new customs and changed appearance. For this reason, the greeting that resounded continuously in the act of meeting a new “character” was simply Good morning, lady mask!