Italy: Venetians hold silent carnival to keep tradition and businesses alive amid pandemic

A silent event was organised in Venice s St. Mark Square on Sunday to revive the Venice Carnival and to support mask and handicraft businesses, as festivities this year lack the 3 million tourists who usually attend the twoweek traditional event. The city is currently empty of visitors due to the pandemic, which has severely impacted the local economy. Last year, the carnival was closed on its third day when Italy became the first European country to be hit hard by the coronavirus. At this moment in Venice, there are no tourists. There s nothing going on, of course just like the rest of the world. So the attempt was to give a new life to carnival back to Venetians. So the help was to try to involve all Venetian people in Venice to participate, to take part in the carnival again, which in the last years was mainly devoted to tourists, said Martina Mian, the event s organiser, adding that this year there are only Venetian people in Venetians coul