(by Ida Bini) Colours, music, processions, masks and traditional costumes: a journey with Civitatis, the online platform specializing in guided tours, among the most sumptuous and engaging Carnival parties in the world, from Europe to America.
The Venice Carnival is unique and not only because it takes place on the water and among the streets of the most extraordinary city in the world, but also because it has a very long tradition, whose origins date back to the 11th century;
the great popularity, however, arrived only in the 18th century, as a great celebration in which nobles gathered to escape the strict control of the government.
Even today it gathers thousands of people, Evenetian tourists, who attend the parades, many of them on small boats or in gondolas, at the concerts and masked balls in the historic buildings.
The Flight of the Angel, which starts the celebrations, is one of the most exciting moments of the Carnival, when an acrobat jumps from the bell tower of San Marco to land in Piazza San Marco.
This year's theme is the great traveler Marco Polo on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of his death.
The Rio de Janeiro Carnival is the greatest show in the world, a colorful and music-filled celebration, famous for parades, processions, parades and street dancing.
The main event is the 'samba parade', where 12 schools from the city compete for the title of 'champion' at the sambadrome, a huge stadium built in 1984 to host the famous event.
The curious thing about Carnival is that every year the schools propose a new theme, around which the magnificent costumes revolve.
The city welcomes thousands of tourists who come to enjoy a festival known throughout the world, also broadcast on television.
Another symbolic place of Carnival in Latin America is Barranquilla, in Colombia: more than 500 folk groups participate in this event which lasts more than 3 days.
The peculiarity is that the Carnival is led by a 'Queen', who is chosen every year by 11 juries from among the candidates from each neighborhood of the city.
The most important event is the Battle of Flowers, a parade animated by traditional characters from carnival mythology;
for Colombians it is a unique moment, all to be discovered.
Even in the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in Spain, there is a queen as the absolute protagonist, elected on the first day of the celebration in the congress palace with a gala in which the candidates, who participate, parade wearing imaginative dresses, which even weigh more of one hundred kilos.
Then the 'Cabalgata' starts, a procession with more than 100 groups in costume, which flood the streets of Santa Cruz with joy.
During the celebrations the island is filled with colours, fun and lots of music, from Los Realejos to La Orotava and on the large beaches, to welcome one of the most anticipated and irreverent events of the year.
Also in Spain there is a truly unique and surprising Carnival: it is that of Cadiz, of ancient origins, which is tinged with colors and joy and a curious rite, 'el entierro de la sardina', the burial of the sardine, which concludes the celebrations .
The event recalls the spring festival of university students who simulated the funeral of a sardine, symbol of fasting and abstinence, complete with a bonfire to burn it.
Meanwhile, musical groups from the city perform 'comparsas' and 'chirigotas' (typical popular songs), which generally have a critical spirit: with joking and satirical tones they express social discomfort through ingenious lyrics and rhymes, making this Carnival a unique and special celebration.
The most famous and engaging Carnival in France is that of Nice, a procession of 18 floats that parade with a different decoration every year, following a chosen theme (this year it is the theme of pop culture).
The floats are beautiful and colourful, decorated by true artisans of the city who are passionate about the arrival of the festival every year.
The most impressive part of the parade are the gigantic puppets weighing over two tons, which make their way through the crowd.
Another important moment of the event is the 'Battle of Flowers'.
Notting Hill, the famous neighborhood of London, hosts a Caribbean street festival whose origins date back to colonial England.
It is an event linked to the liberation of the African colonies which were under the yoke of the English empire.
Tradition dictates that participants must paint their faces white or wear masks of the same color.
Unlike all other festivals, it takes place on the last Monday of August.
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