Corona stories: Number 58 Italy 1984

“The innocents abroad” (Mark Twain, 1869)

“Six hundred years ago, Venice was the Autocrat of Commerce; her mart was the great commercial centre: the distributing-house from whence the enormous trade of the Orient was spread abroad over the Western world. Today her piers are deserted, her warehouses are empty, her merchant fleets are vanished, her armies and her navies are but memories. Her glory is departed, and with her crumbling grandeur of wharves and palaces about her she sits among her stagnant lagoons, forlorn and beggared, forgotten of the world.” (Mark Twain)

On the way to a party?

You might not have noticed, but last week was the climax of the carnival period. While it was one of the major causes for the first wave of corona infections last year, it had entirely succumbed to the virus in 2021. While a calvinistic country like the Netherlands (north of the rivers) ignores such frivolous celebrations altogether, for other parts of the world it is a time to forget about real life and drown in a sea of party, alcohol, sex and fantasy.

Preparation for the party?

Carnival has its origins in the desire to drive out the spirits of winter. It also stems from the idea that leftover winter stores have to be consumed before they spoil with the warming temperatures of spring. Traditionally such stores were established in northern countries in autumn to provide food until fresh provisions were available in spring. When the christian church introduced the long period of fastening lasting the forty days before Easter, the stores had to be consumed before fasting began. The celebrations therefore had to end on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. Depending on the region, the carnival period became associated with festivities, rich food and sexual liberty.

One of the places famous for their carnival is Venice. According to legend the Carnival of Venice started in the year 1162 when after a military victory people started to celebrate in San Marco Square. In the Renaissance it became an official festival. However, when Venice came under the rule of the Holy Roman and later Emperor of Austria, Francis II, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. Thereafter it was only celebrated for short periods as private parties or an occasion for artistic creations.

When we first went for the carnival in Venice in 1984 it was a quite new thing. Only as late as 1979 the Italian government had decided to bring back the carnival as part of the memory to the history and culture of Venice. The thought that it would increase the number of tourists during the winter month might have played some role in that decision. Disguise and the wearing of masks generally is common during carnival, but in Venice it was a part of the tradition of lavish baroque parties of the rich aristocrats.

After its reincarnation for tourism the appearance of disguised and masked people in the historic setting made the venetian carnival in particular attractive. Some of the disguised select their spot and stay there for many hours enjoying the attention of the visitors. We quickly found out where to look for them since they are usually surrounded by a circle of photographers. The number of photographers always far outnumbers their subjects.

Photographers surrounding their subject

Weather in February in Venice can be very varying. Sunny, pleasant days change to frigid spells with long periods of rain or even snow which can, like in 2019, quickly lead to flooding of big parts of the slowly sinking monument. The humidity due to the omnipresent water makes the cold spells in particular unpleasant. Regardless of the weather the carnival crowds shuffle through the narrow alleys, mainly on the thoroughfares between the piazzale Roma, the Rialto bridge and the Piazza de San Marco. Even as early as 1984 some of the alleys became so clogged that one-way traffic for pedestrians was introduced.

When the weather turns bad the wandering around is not entirely fun. The few places to warm up are usually packed. The italian cafe, in contrast to the viennese kaffeehaus, is designed for grabbing a quick coffee or sandwich but not for long stays. Few are heated. Most are cold and humid even inside. Restaurants are either crowded or cold. The last resort to warm up is to go back to the hotel, which is hopefully heated. This is not for everybody. During the carnival, all accommodation is full. We see people sleep in their sleeping bags in the porches of churches.

Posters advertising events during carnival 1985

Break in a cafe

Visitors in their sleeping bags in the porch of a church

“In the glare of day, there is little poetry about Venice: but under the charitable moon her stained palaces are white again: their battered sculptures are hidden in shadows: and the old city seems crowned once more with the grandeur that was hers five hundred years ago. It is easy: then, in fancy to people these silent canals with plumed gallants and fair ladles - with Shylocks in gaberdine and sandals, venturing loans upon the rich argosies of Venetian commerce - with Othellos and Desdemonas, with Iagos and Roderigos - with noble fleets and victorious legions returning from the Ivars.” (Mark Twain)

Plenty of spots for selfies

Laundry drying in the humidity

Carnival is an invitation to party. But the Venice of February is too cold for a party in the streets. When it is dark, narcissists and photographers have disappeared. Where did all these beautiful women in their disguise go? What is going on in those inaccessible and impressive palazzi? Optimistic people have suspended laundry outside to dry, so somebody seems to live in there. In search for excitement only tourists like us roam the dark and narrow alleys. Sometimes a water taxi passes under one of the bridges, in our imagination delivering its mysterious freight to a palace full of splendor, excitement and eros. We wander from one cold cafe to the next without finding the place to be, getting invited by an unknown beauty or even getting in a conversation with somebody knowing more about what is going on behind all these closed doors. Eventually we shot even more photos - at night.

Poster advertising list of events during carnival 1984

“There was a hush, a stealthy sort of stillness, that was suggestive of secret enterprises of bravoes and lovers, and, clad half in moonbeams and half in mysterious shadows, the grim old mansions of the Republic seemed to have an expression about them of having an eye out for just such enterprises as these at that same moment” (Mark Twain)

In 1869 the american writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known under his pseudonym Mark Twain, published “the innocents abroad”, an ironic description of his journey to the Holy land. It was to become his most popular book during his lifetime. Venice is the topic of two chapters. This was the time after the Austrians had left and Venice had become part of the new, centralized italian state. The city had a population of around 120.000. In chapter XXII Twain describes a festival happening during his stay:

“There was a fete - a grand fete in honor of some saint who had been instrumental in checking the cholera three hundred years ago and all Venice was abroad on the water. It was no common affair; for the Venetians did not know how soon they might need the saint’s services again, now that the cholera was spreading everywhere. So in one vast space - say a third of a mile wide and two miles collected two thousand gondolas, and every one of them had from two to ten and even thirty colored lanterns suspended about it; and from four to a dozen occupants. ….. many a party of young ladies and gentlemen had their state gondolas handsomely decorated and ate supper on board, bringing their swallow-tailed, white-cravatted valets to wait upon them, and having their tables tricked out as if for a bridal supper. They had brought along the costly globe lamps from their drawing-rooms: and the lace and silken curtains from the same places, I suppose. ….. the suburbs and the back alleys crowded around to stare and listen.” (Mark Twain)

Gondola and taxi boat

Of the many gondolas active in Mark Twain’s time only a few remain. Fast taxi boats for the affluent and the vaporetto for the common have taken over most of their services. In 1869, Mark Twain called the gondola their hearse. He got so upset with the singing of his gondoliere that he was afraid that one of them would have to end up in the water of what he calls a “dismal ditch” in case he would not stop.

Gondolas serve as public ferry to cross Canale Grande

“He turned a corner and shot his hearse into a dismal ditch between two rows of towering, untenanted buildings” (Mark Twain)

Foggy days are the most mysterious. The top of the campanile on the piazza san marco disappears in the nowhere. Likewise the buildings on the other side of the canal. The end of the narrow canals disappears in the mist. Sounds are muffled. Their origins are indistinct. Boats appear long after you hear their sound.

Foggy day in Venice

The last day of our visit in 1984 it started snowing. The water in the canals started rising, the alleys were first covered in wet snow, later in water spilling over from the dirty broth of the canals. Wooden passages, in part elevated on metal supports, helped the pedestrians to reach their destination with dry feet. The souvenir shop owners made a last attempt to make some profit by selling plastic ponchos, rubber boots and umbrellas. The carnival feel quickly disappeared. But also many of the sights had to be closed to be able to seal the doors to prevent the floods from coming in.

Tourists protected against humidity and snow showers

“We have seen famous pictures until our eyes are weary with looking at them and refuse to find interest in them any longer. And what wonder, when there are twelve hundred pictures by Palma the Younger in Venice and fifteen hundred by Tintoretto? And behold: there are Titians and the works of other artists m proportion. We have seen Titian's celebrated Cain and Abel: his David and Goliah, his Abraham's Sacrifice. We have seen Tintoretto's monster picture, which is seventy four feet long and I do not know how many feet high: and thought it a very commodious picture. We have seen pictures of martyrs enough: and saints enough: to regenerate the world.” (Mark Twain)

Snow flakes above Canale Grande, water has already reached the level of the sidewalk

In 2018, 260000 people lived in the municipality of Venice, but only 55.000 in the historical center. The carnival lasts for one week. Until 2019 the number of visitors in that week had risen to 3 million. That is almost 10% of the 33 million visitors the city received in the entire year. In 2019, due to an especially bad period of flooding, the number of visitors had declined. For the time being, the outbreak of the corona virus has ended the annual spectacle.

Our failure to be invited to a party in one of the big palazzos in 1984 did not deter me from coming back. Already a year later I went back with a friend. We did not have more success. However, the last evening saw one of those little memorable events which sometimes happen and which teach you a lesson lasting a lifetime.

Selfies on a pleasant day

“In the treacherous sunlight we see Venice decayed, forlorn, poverty-stricken: and commerceless - forgotten and utterly insignificant. But in the moonlight her fourteen centuries of greatness fling their glories about her: and once more is she the princeliest among the nations of the earth.” (Mark Twain)

German Tourist

The night train for Munich departs close to midnight. For dinner we went into a packed restaurant. The waiter put as at a table with a group of Italian guests. We were almost out of money and decided to order the cheapest pizza and a glass of wine each. Meanwhile we got into a conversation with the other people at the table, who were busy to devour a sumptuous dinner of many courses. They were surprised that we just had ordered a simple pizza. When they noticed that our wine glasses were empty they refilled quickly from their bottle. Then they began sharing some of the treats they had ordered, but eventually we received entire plates of secondi which we had to try on their recommendation. Finally we also had to take a postre and a digestive. We were incredibly embarrassed that we did not have the means to give something back. When we finally had to leave to collect our luggage and catch the train we tried to apologize and thank these kind people for their generosity. Their answer was: “We once had been young students without money. We can understand. We had a nice evening and interesting conversation with you. If you want to give something back, then wait until you earn your own money. And then, when you can afford it and you have a nice time with young people, think back to this evening and pay their dinner.” I am glad I am able to follow that advice and that way their kindness still keeps paying interest.

Piazza San Marco during Carnival

In 1880 Twain published ”a tramp abroad”, his second travel book and in a way a sequel to “the innocents abroad”. It describes his travels down the Rhine and across the Alps and he also paid another visit to Venice.

“This Venice, which was a haughty, invincible, magnificent Republic for nearly fourteen hundred years, whose armies compelled the world's applause whenever and wherever they battled, whose navies well nigh held dominion of the seas, and whose merchant fleets whitened the remotest oceans with their sails and loaded these piers with the products of every clime: is fallen a prey to poverty, neglect and melancholy decay.” (Mark Twain)