VENICE, Italy, Jan 30 (AFP) - The Venice carnival got officially under way on Sunday despite bitterly cold weather which appeared to have forced many to forgo their quest for a taste of 18th century romance.
The water-lapped city each year plunges back in time for the two-week festival, which runs until Mardi Gras on February 8. Early in the day, wrapped in dark robes and golden masks, cameras in hand, tourists from all corners of the world converged on St Mark's Square for the traditional start to the festival.
Newspaper reports said there were three times fewer tourists in this European architectural jewel than last year, but there was an enthusiastic crowd on hand for the traditional ceremony.
"Commedia dell'Arte" characters, Casanovas and courtesans, twirled gallantly before the cameras, as onlookers marveled at their powdered wigs and grotesque, beautiful masks.
Then, as the final toll from the midday bell drifted away on the freezing air, the flight of the angel ceremony went ahead, marking the beginning of the festival.
Carolina Marconi, an Italian television star, was given the honour this year of symbolically launching herself into the heavens from the top of the Campanile, the bell tower.
In the past this was a genuinely dangerous stunt performed by acrobats and tight-rope walkers, but this time the popular soap star was safely suspended from a length of tough steel wire for her symbolic flight.
Those not among the crowd massed in front of the Ducal palace and the Basilica for the official start to proceedings were wandering arm-in-arm through other parts of this crumbling masterpiece of a city, basking in the romantic intensity of the occasion.
For those wishing to join in, the city was haunted by street vendors hawking carnival costumes, while for five euros street make-up artists offered to paint faces with swirling baroque motifs, glitter and endless fake lashes.
"There is a commercial side to it, but the costumes are fascinating, there is a real sense of camaraderie, with people looking at us as if we were true Venetians," said Alain and Anna, a Parisian couple kitted out with brand new carnival outfits -- swishing black capes and golden masks.
"None of it is for real but we play along," they joked.
In recent years the Carnival has become somewhat of a party with an absent host, as native Venetians have lost interest in the festival amid a sea of foreigners.
This has prompted city authorities to take steps to make the Carnival more interesting for Venetians.
"We've been accused of making the Carnival too far from Venetian reality, that is why we've paid more attention to residents and rediscovering tradition," Armando Peres, an aide to the city's mayor, told AFP.
This year a 72-hour theatrical marathon in Italian will be held, and events in foreign languages have been reduced.
About 430,000 visitors are expected in the city, a figure which could change considerably due to weather.
Some 670,000 people attended in 2004 during a festival that lasted for three weeks.
01/30/2005 15:15 GMT - AFP