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VENICE EN FETE.THE JOYS OF CARNIVAL.PICTURESQUE MERRYMAKING.(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)VENICE, Feb. 28.Venice has now passed from her festive mood, when old and young, rich and poor, everybody, in fact, was engaged in merry-making before the austerities of Lent put a stop to all enjoyment until the Eastertide. The carnival season as long as it lasted, however, was observed with the whole-hearted gaiety and abandon so characteristic of the impulsive Venetians.At night the canals presented a magnificentspectacle, their waters multiplying the myriad lights from hundreds of illuminated gondolas. Instead of the melancholy songs of the gon-dolieri, the merry tunes of the valses ^nd of the traditional carnival songs—legacies from bygone ages—floated across the waters from the houses of rich and poor. The “ smart 6et ” of Venice, who for the last few weeks had deserted the town for their country residences, had returned again to the palazzi to close the season with the pomp and merriment so dear to the Venetian.Goudola after gondola glided along the canals, filled with a masked crowd of ladies and gentlemen attired in fancy dresses inspired by the Orient, and reminding one of the tales in “A Thousand and One Nights.” The melodious tinkle of guitar and mandoline mingled with the not less harmonious peals of merry laughter of the joyous throngs in the boats.Here a dark-haired damsel, clad in the costume of an Eastern princess, and enveloped in a large purple cloak, the charm of her features and the sparkle of her deep black eyes accentuated rather than concealed by the velvet mask, began to bombard the occupants of a passing gondola with roses, and soon one jpras in the very midst of a battle of flowers and badinage. From the balconies of the neighbouring palazzi others join in the battle, until the gondolas and their occupant* are covered in a shower of flowers. Then a merry farewell, and on they go to their respective destinations, the richly decorated ball-rooms or the gay restaurants, where the picturesque groups continued their pastimes of dancing and flirtationtill the breaking dawn reminded theip of the journey homewards.Meantime the gondoliers have had their share of the carnival fun in the servants’ halls, or they have rowed out with gorgeous bouquets to their belles, and taken them for a trip to a public dancing place, enjoying the festival not less thaa their masters, if in a more noisy fashion.The dawn breaks in the east over the waves of the sea, gradually the sound of merriment dies away, and Venice goes to rest. In a black gondola a young Italian, dressed in the dark cloak of a Spanish knight, 6ings a serenade to his lady-love to the accompaniment of a guitar, the melancholy accents floating sweetly over the waters as he tells his beloved of the sincerity of his affection.A fair, white figure appears for a moment, leaning over the balcony, and drops a white rose into the gondola. The amorous suitor has one more pledge.
Newspaper Details
London Standard
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Mar 03, 1906
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Elizabeth B.
USA 03 Apr 2019
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