Close

Venice, the Italian queen of carnival cities, will host 18 days of Carnevale this year, with events taking place along the city's canals and across its bridges and squares from 4-21 February 2023. Artisans in the lagoon city are busy preparing masks and floats for the annual Carnevale di Venezia, one of the world's best-loved carnivals, whose theme...

467

Crabs are a contentious topic in Venice right now. The moeche, or soft-shell crabs - normally harvested from lagoon mudflats to star on local menus for a few short weeks in October and April - have all but vanished this year. It’s blamed on a combination of rising temperatures, overfishing and invasive alien species – chiefly, the far larger Atlant...

366

Every year, up to 3 million people descend on Venice to partake in the festivities surrounding Carnival (Carnevale in Italian). And though Carnival, also known as Mardi Gras, is celebrated around the world, it has a unique flavor in Venice, transporting participants back in time to the 1700s. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to sweep...

602

Vittore Carpaccio's "St. Augustine in His Study" would make first-rate "Where's Waldo?" fodder. In the large painting, dated around 1502, the saint — per legend — realizes he is penning a letter to a man who has just died: St. Jerome. Carpaccio peppers the scene with books, ecclesiastical paraphernalia, sculptures, an hourglass, and a shell, among...

448

Famous in Italy and in the world, the mini-cruise between the Venetian Villas of the Brenta Riviera (that is, from Padua to Venice and vice versa) aboard the Burchiello is romantic, unforgettable, exciting and above all unmissable. In the past, the Burchiello was a typical Venetian boat used for the transport of passengers equipped with a large woo...

438

Growing up, I was pretty convinced that my mum had magical attributes. In Italy, that’s quite a common conviction to hold about one’s mamma. In the endless list of her superpowers, her ability to appear behind my back–particularly at times when I would have thankfully avoided her gaze–was quite high up. Her voice, coming unannounced from an indefin...

445

Carnival Cruise Line is bringing over an Italian cruise ship from their sister line Costa Cruises. Costa Venezia will join Carnival’s fleet in 2023 and sail year round from New York City.  Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to take a cruise on Costa Venezia and it quickly became one of my favorite ships I have ever sailed on.  It is a Vista c...

989

The exhibition "Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice," at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has opened. The exhibition focuses on the figure of Vittore Carpaccio, a Renaissance artist who lived in Venice between the 15th and 16th centuries, and is part of our all-out effort to promote the masters of Italian paint...

642

The ones we will talk about today were the homes of eminent families. They are primarily Venetian palaces on the Grand Canal. However, you will also find a few more 'secluded' buildings overlooking 'corti', 'campi' and 'campielli'. These are the names of the squares in Venice. The only square is, in fact, Piazza San Marco. Strolling around the city...

518

Carnival Cruise Line is teaming up with Costa Cruises to create a new concept for Carnival’s North American guests. Costa by Carnival will debut in the spring of 2023, with Costa Venezia joining the Carnival fleet and sailing from New York. Costa Venezia will be followed by Costa Firenze arriving in the spring of 2024 to sail from Long Beach. “This...

569