Carnevale in Venezia, Martedi Grosso 2008

Each of the Lagoon City's (Venice)  boroughs will explore one of the five senses: San Polo will feature SIGHT; Cannaregio: TASTE; Santa Croce: SMELL; Doroduro: TOUCH; and CASTELLO: Sound. St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) will celebrate the '6th' sense with a rave like celebration. Carnevale officially opens with the procession of the Marias and the flight of the dove, where a whiteclad woman is lowered 90 m from the top of the bell tower.  A warehouse has been converted where absolute darkness will take place to heighten the other senses by "removing" sight. 

Carnevale dates back to the 12th century but took a break of almost 200 years starting when Napoleon put an end to the Venetian Republic. It was revived in the 1970'sand attracts 80,000-100,000 visitors a day.

Its most distinctive feature is the famous Venetian white mask with a black cloak and a black tri corner hat. Masks are linked to the carnival because during the era of the republic it was one of the few periods when citizens could wear masks and it enabled people of different social classes to mingle and get into mischief without being recognized.