People come from all over the world to visit the Venetian Carnival every February. Fortunately, one of our JCU students, Lorenza Di Cesare, went this year and shared her experience with us!
A.K.: Lorenza, could you tell me a little bit about your experience in Venice? Was it the first time you have been there?
L.C.: Venice was a unique experience! It is the most beautiful city in the whole world and the only one built on water. Being there was like living a dream. Actually, the first time I went there was one year ago with my boyfriend, but that time we didn't plan anything. It was a sunny Saturday in November and the weather was amazing. We were walking around Rome and we just decided to travel somewhere. So we went to Termini and took the first train. And it turned out that train was going to Venice! When we got there, it was even more beautiful than we expected; it was stunning! We fell in love with Venice when we saw some gondole right outside the train station.
I thought that Venice couldn't be more stunning than this, but, actually, I was wrong because when we went this year for carnival... I can't explain how magical it was.
This year we firstly went to Florian Café right in piazza San Marco- the atmosphere there was incredible: people from all over the world dressed with amazing (and very expensive) Carnival costumes. Some of the visitors stayed at the café the whole day. We just sat and people-watched, listening to the interesting conversations around us. For
example, one woman sitting nearby was speaking four different languages almost simultaneously!
A.K.: Sounds amazing! Are you planning on going back to Venice next year?
L.C.: We will definitely go back to Venice and next time we'll buy Carnival costumes so we can participate in the fun. This time we had two masks, which were provided as a gift from the hotel at check-in.
A.K.: Did you manage to take a ride on a gondola?
L.C.: Yes - I also got to talk to the gondolier. He told me that when he became a gondoliere, 35 years ago, it wasn't a choice but he inherited the profession from his father. I was very curious to know how many times he has fallen into the water - he told me just twice. But there's a friend of his, another gondoliere who everyone calls "Niagara" because he always falls down!
A.K.: How long were you there?
L.C.: We went for three days.
A.K.: Lorenza, thank you very much. I hope that the next time you visit Carnival, you’ll tell us all about it again!
Would you like to visit the Carnival? Travel around Italy while studying in John Cabot University!
Anastasiia Komarova
Communications Major
Class of 2018
Hometown: Moscow, Russia
