Venice Carnival Welcomes Visitors With Boat Parade
- By Zlatica Hoke
Visitors are flocking to Italy's renowned Venice Carnival, which opened Saturday and will close February 9. One of the world's oldest and most colorful, the festival features a canal boat parade, grand masquerade ball, dinner with Casanova, the king's banquet and many other events. It ends with a spectacular Mardi Gras, and a night of reveling before the somber Ash Wednesday, which for Christians marks the beginning of Lent. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.