Y a-t-il encore eu un carnaval de Venise au xxe siècle ?

Abstract

Nowadays, we tend to consider that the carnival of Venice reappeared in 1980 after a long absence in the 19th and 20th centuries. Reduced to a few masquerades, wavering between gastronomy, balls and concerts, it is said to have slowly died in the early years of the 20th century. Our contention is that the carnival was able to thrive again in the late seventies – with a renewed spontaneity that the imperatives of mass tourism has since erased – because series of metamorphoses gave it a form of existence throughout the 20th century: moments of artistic creativity behind the closed doors of princes’ palaces, occasions to remember the past of the city, particularly from the era of Vivaldi, Pietro Longhi, Goldoni and Casanova, times to commemorate transient images of baroque splendour from the 17th century, although it was devoid of the driving force of a sovereign or collective sovereignty.