Venice, a city in the northeast of Italy, is famous throughout the world for its buildings and romantic canals (运河). But in February every year, people come to Venice for another reason. The city carnival (狂欢节) fills the place with excitement and fun. This year, the celebration runs from 4 to 21 February.

Colourful costurnes have always played a very important role in the Venetian carnival. The carnival happens at the start of the Christian fasting (斋戒) period of Lent. It was traditionally a time to go a bit crazy with eating, drinking, dancing and dressing up before the fast began. People used masks to hide their social identity so that the nobility (贵族) would look no different from the commoners.

Today the carnival is largely for the tourists. “Venetians don’t dress up for the carnival after the age of ten,” Giuseppina Giudice, who has lived in the city all her life, said to The Guardian（卫报）. “All we see of the carnival is a river of strangers who flow into town to feel ‘Venetian’. They fill it, buy a cheap mask and leave with nothing but photographs of St Mark’s Square.”

Some locals want to bring back the original (最初的) feel of the carnival. In 2009, two social networking groups started organizing their own carnival. Visitors were invited. There were no expensive tickets or fancy ball dresses—just an old-fashioned Italian street party. “Tourists are welcome to our party—the more we can show them about the real Venice rather than the postcard Venice, the better,” Matteo Secchi, one of the organizers, told The Guardian.