Venice has cast off a chill midwinter gloom with an explosion of festive color to mark the opening of its annual Carnevale.
Masked 17th century noblemen emerged over the weekend from the mist in St Mark's Square with their marchionesses like figments of the imagination, emphasizing the otherworldly atmosphere of this water-lapped city forever in a state of barely arrested decay.
Others paraded in the grotesque masks and garments of the ancient characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, Harlequin, Pantaloon and Columbine, bought from lines of artisan mask makers stalls. Many wandering, wide-eyed tourists opted to simply have their faces painted.
"I think it's the most decadent, erotic carnival in the world," said Carolina from Germany.
The city fathers hope to top last year's figure of 1 million visitors by stretching the events over an extra week, capitalizing on the lure for foreigners of this crumbling masterpiece of a city where gondolas maneuver like nonchalant swans amid the dank recesses of the canals.
High society will have its fling next week, when the official costume balls and private parties get into swing. Once the preserve of misbehaving nobility, many of these balls are now open to customers, albeit the high-paying sort.
"Most of them are French, who pay between 150 euros to 350 euros (US$190 to US$445) a day to hire a costume," said Dario, on the front desk at the fabled Danieli Hotel, whose costumes are among the most popular.
The prices and the hype have made the exclusive carnival balls the preserve of foreigners from Japan, the US, Germany and France. According to Dario, the Venetians prefer the quiet life.
"To tell the truth, the Venetians, more than anything else, like a bit of peace," he said.
Undeterred, specialized travel companies have sprung up in recent years offering tailor-made Venice excursions with historical costumes, accessories like wigs, and entry to the balls -- at a price.
These range from a US$50 costumed "hot chocolate" at the exclusive Caffe Laverna, Wagner's old haunt, to a more satisfying Venezia Romantica evening at the Hotel Danieli (US$500), arranged by the Events and Shows Production Company.
The most exclusive masked ball will take place at the Gothic Palazzo Pisani-Moretta on the Canale Grande. The uninitiated will be guided through the steps of the quadrilles and other de rigeur group dances by a dancing master.
This year promises more variety than ever as the carnival's "Orient Express" theme celebrates Venice's history as the doorway to the East via the Silk Road exploited by its most famous son, Marco Polo, born here 750 years ago.
A sumptuous costumed parade celebrated "The Return of Marco Polo" last Saturday, and performers from China, Japan, India and Thailand will take over the city's small campi, or squares, over the next two weeks of public and private frolics.
The Beijing Modern Dance Company started performing on Monday.
Mask wearing and mask making are at the heart of carnival. But Claudia Pandolfo, a young Venetian mask-maker whose mail-order customers include Japanese, French and Germans, says the government should crack down on cheap imitation plastic and plaster masks.
"I think there should be a law to protect the artiganato in Venice, because it's a dying art," she said surrounded by the grotesque and beautiful ceramic and papier mache creations in her cramped shop.
"There are no schools for this trade. You learn as you go along. In fact the first ones I made were pretty ugly."
The white, long-chinned Casanova mask is the most popular, presumably among those hoping to mimic the style of the legendary Venetian lover in a bit of traditional debauchery for which the carnival was famous through the centuries.
That all ground to a halt under Napoleon and was only revived again in 1979, when the merchants of Venice hit upon a way to make some low-season profit.
Though the anonymity bestowed by wearing a mask historically tended to lead to outrageous behavior, the carnival no longer has the license of earlier times.
But perhaps not entirely.
The intriguing sounding "Shadows of Love" private event promises "an afternoon of amusements accompanied by music, dinner with dance masters and malicious games of the 18th
century."
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built