Hold up your hands to frame any view in Venice and it will be as picture perfect and breathtaking as any postcard. Even at Carnival time, when a cool mist drapes itself over the canals, it just adds to the drama. The brightness, the bite of the frosty air, the fiery four o' clock sunsets and silhouetted domes and spires - all conspire with the flamboyance of the Carnival characters to make the experience more surreal.
On the Piazza San Marco, you're part of the celebration. You brush past the extraordinary costumes, elaborate wigs and glamorous feathers and witness the spectacle of colour; the razzmatazz of jugglers, fire-eaters and musicians. And everywhere are those beautiful eerie masks.
To escape the crowds, you seek shelter in a coffee house - an ancient corner of the city. Your eyes wander over the rich wood panelling, the velvet upholstery, the mosaic floors...then come to rest on a pair of boots at the next table. The wearer is a medieval gentleman with a mobile phone pressed to his ear. His companion, expressionless behind her mask, wears a gold dress that envelops two chairs.
Behind the palazzo doorways. Behind the disguises. The emptiness is punctuated with laughter, distant shouts and snatches of music. Around a blind corner, you bump into a group of Pierrots and Pierrettes. Laughter rings out from behind the masks as they skip away over the cobbles.
A door opens beside you. A rich golden light inside reflects off crystal chandeliers and sparkling mirrors. A table is set for a feast - heavy with risotto nero, bigoli ai scampi, bollito misto, tiramisu. A masked ball - but tonight you have no invitation. Perhaps another time...
Carnival. Public, private, spectacular and secret, with a cast of thousands. Music and food and wine centre stage.
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