Venice 2009

A Worderful 2009 Carnival in Venice !

Hi Leeds "workshop people" ! I am happy to share with you this little sample of 2009 Venice Carnival.
Every year thousands of people come to Venice for the carnival and have fun wearing fantastic costumes. Costumes are tipically inspired at historical masks as the "doge" for example or at 17 Century ladies or noble people.
There are groups of people or individuals coming from all over europe (but not only) .
It is a great moment for Venice. A sort of hystorical event that recall the great "serenissima" as she was known in 17 century. The most important events take place in S. Marco square where all masks have a parade, the best mask or group of masks of course receives an award. You have to take a visit to the city where often you can see craftman working in their small lab at fantastic glass creations. You can also see hundreds of monuments, magnificent churches and art museums. You can enjoy having a trip around the city with "gondola" a typical Venice boat.

Venice History (from viki )

Venice (Italian: Venezia Venesia) is a city in norther Italy the Capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 (census estimate January 1, 2004). Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area (population 1,600,000). The city historically was an independent nation. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges", and "The City of Light". Luigi Barzini, writing in the New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man".

The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large "frazione" of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.

The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Venice is also famous for its musical, particularly operatic, history, and its most famous son in this field is Antonio Vivaldi.