September is a great time to visit Venice. The popular Venice Film Festival runs from August 31 - September this year and opens with George Clooney's new film, The Ides of March. Venice's historic regatta, on the Grand Canal, is one of the city's most exciting and colorful events and the island of Burano holds a regatta later in the month, too. La Biennale contemporary arts expo continues in September

The Venice Carnevale is among the most famous Carnivals in the world taking a back seat to Rio and perhaps New Orleans. But does it meet the hype? Should you feel that you have missed out if you have to spend Carnevale in an alternate Italian location, a Carnival elsewhere in the world, or perhaps even at home? That's for you and only you and perhaps your partner to decide. Hopefully this article will help you make this momentous decision.

The Venice Carnevale is relatively short, lasting only about two weeks. That can be a good thing, even more so when you consider the costs involved. The city of Venice has a population of about 270 thousand of which less than a quarter actually live in the historic town. Compare these figures to the estimated 50 thousand visitors per day, and we are talking about the annual average, not Carnevale time. On the upside, Venice is the largest car-free city in Europe, but there are two pricey parking lots.

Back to Carnevale. The first record of Venetian Carnevale was in 1296 when the local Senate decreed the day before Lent to be a public holiday. Festivities in the early days included slaughtering of pigs and oxen and mass brawls, for which bridges seemed to be a favored location. According to Seventeenth Century guidebooks more than 30 thousand visitors graced the city during Carnevale week. After the Venice Republic fell in 1797 Carnevale was banned and didn't return for decades. In the days of Mussolini it was illegal to wear a mask in public. Then it became a sort of children's party but nothing more. Believe it or not, the modern Carnevale dates only from 1979. By 2004 annual attendance passed the one million mark with over one hundred thousand on the final Saturday and Sunday. The peak has passed and attendance is on the way down. Perhaps in the words of that athletic philosopher, Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Masks were and are a central feature of the Venetian Carnevale. People wore them for a large part of the year, would you believe that at one point in Venetian history mask wearing was reduced to three months a year? The Mascherari (mask makers) were favored members of society and had their own guild and even their own laws. The original masks were made of papier-mache, a major component of allegorical floats as well. Other mask materials include leather and wax cloth, which they tell me is fine for eating and dancing. The sky is the limit for decorative materials including gold leaf, feathers, and jewels.

Here is a short list of some official events and their admission charge cost for the 2010 Carnivale. At the time of this writing one Euro is worth about $1.43. Hot Chocolate in Costume at the Hotel Danieli on Saturday, February 6 costs 50 Euros. Expect to pay for costume rental. I don't know what the cleaning charge is if you get hot chocolate all over your Marie Antoinette dress. Later that day at the Luna Hotel Baglioni there is a Moon Masquerade with a refined Carnival Buffet Dinner and music of the 70s and 80s costing 290 Euros. I do not recommend that you wear the clothes you wore to 70s and 80s concerts, even if you can fit in them. Let's skip to the final day. On Tuesday, February 16 at the Hotel Danieli you'll enjoy Venezia Romantica with a top dinner, a ball, and lots more for 450 Euros. The dress code is Historical Costume. Enjoy. And look for me. I'll be the guy in those plastic giveaway glasses from American 1950s 3-D movies.

Only one day to see Venice! (We would start our Greek Isle cruise tomorrow.)

Because of the train strike, the hotel shuttled us to airport where we could get a water taxi. The ride over was anticipation-building; as we approached St. Mark’s Square and the buildings became visible, well, I practically peed my pants from excitement! Since we only had one day, we did not have big expectations of what we should do. My only goals were that I wanted to ride a Gondola and otherwise, just see the city. We decided to find lunch first and so started wandering – if you have never been to Venice, the “streets” are a trip! They are more like alleyways – there are no cars or other vehicles (I never saw any skateboards, roller skates or bicycles.) They wind in and out, a lot are very narrow.

After lunch, we found a Gondola ride – it is a calm and peaceful way of seeing the city. After that we just started wandering again, taking lots of pictures, looking in shops, not buying anything yet since we still had the bulk of our vacation ahead of us in Greece. To me, it was surreal, like I was walking in the pages of a book. I had never been anyplace else that looked or felt the same…it only served to awaken my desire to see more of Italy – that will have to be another trip.

Venice is a city situated in north of Italy, which is quite famous for its architecture, artworks and beauty of its setting.

Venice Italy is a capital of region Veneto with population of whole Comune of about 270,660. It is also Venetian Republic’s capital and is known as various names including Serenissima, La Dominante, Queen of Adriatic, City of Canals, City of Water, The Floating City, City of Masks and City of Bridges.
Venice has also been described by Times Online as one of the Europe’s most romantic cities. The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during Renaissance and Middle Ages, staging area for Crusades and Battle of Lepanto, very important center of commerce and art in 13th century.
Originally, Roman cities near Venice like Padua, Treviso, Concordia, Altino and Aquileia consisted of Refugees. Venice is separated in six regions or sestiere, such as San Paulo, Cannaregio, Santa Croce, Dorsoduro, San Marco and Castello. It is one of the world’s most significant tourist places, because of the city’s being one of the most good-looking and utmost cities of the world of art.