From its pagan roots in ancient Rome, to the Christian festival of life before the austerities of Lent, Italian Carnival survived through the ages, spreading through early modern Europe.
The word carnival, carnevale in Italian, is derived from the medieval Latin term carnem laxare, "leave the flesh," or carnem levare, "lift or take away the flesh." Before making sacrifices for Lent, Carnival allowed people the pleasures of the flesh --whether that meant the eating of meat, or the sensual enjoyment of one's own body.
Carnival was traditionally a time of death, regeneration and rebirth. Until 1525, a bull and twelve pigs were ritually sacrificed in Piazza San Marco, Venice. Doge Andrea Gritti, who ruled from 1523 to 1538, instituted reforms to bring the Carnival season to a higher level. He brought architect Jacopo Sansovino to Venice to build the Marciana Library, Procuratie Nuove, governmental offices, and the Mint, making the Piazza the one we can see today.
In Italian cities, the streets swirled with all kinds of entertainment at carnival time: Plays, pagents, fireworks, parades, and dancing.
Rome had races, with both animals and men, and warlike games took place in Piazza Navona. In Florence, crowds in masks, on foot and on horseback, moved among floats with actors portraying characters from classical mythology, such as Paris and Helen from the Trojan War or gods such as Eros, Greek god of love, and Dionysus, god of wine and revelry. Even Brunelleschi and Leonardo da Vinci were employed designing floats.
In the Republic of Venice, there was dancing in the campos, and drinking and brawling in alley ways. Balls were held in palazzi and on boats on the Grand Canal. Carnival season in Venice lasted from the feast of St. Stephen, December 26th, until the beginning of Lent. Images of sexuality, birth, and death were contained in allegories performed as public entertainments. There were many sexual parodies, and it was also a common custom to celebrate marriages at this time of year. People enjoyed watching fireworks and human pyramids, but cruel jokes and drunken escapades were also common.
All classes of Venetians walked in maschera, in masks and costumes, disguised. Everyone, rich and poor alike, could partake in a great game of pretend. People took on new identities, allowing their 'real' selves to die while they put on the clothes of other members of society. It was a time of reinvention, a time to act out fantasies. The poor could pretend to be rich, men could be women, sinners could dress as saints.
Even nuns in convents were known to dress up, both in secular women's and men's clothing. Many convent inmates put on plays. Revelers serenaded the nuns from beneath the covered windows, hoping to be let in.
