Appendix B: How Much Does it all Cost?
o, you want to come to Venezia So, you want to come to Venezia and you want to do carnevale.
What’s it going to cost, you wonder?
Leaving out the transportation and lodging, for which there are other resources, we’ll concentrate here on just the costuming possibilities.
Of course, you don’t have to costume up — you can just come as a basic tourist, inserting yourself in photos alongside those who do. I suppose that’s the cheapest route, but it’s not as much fun or interesting, and you’re certainly not participating.
You can get a foil mask for as little as 3 euros. Eyes-only masks hover around 15 euros, either on a stick or with black ribbon ties. Silly hats will cost around 15 euros, if you want to lean in that direction, but it’s not really in the spirit of Venezia.
The cheap, thin satin capes go for 30 euros. So, for less than 50 euros, you can stay on the cheap and participate to some degree. We’ve seen some pretty creative things done with just masks, inexpensive hats, and colorful mesh swirled about.
For a bit more, you can really become part of the show. Rose’s mask went for 75 euros, her fine satin and lace cape for 110. At that point, she was being stopped for pictures and posing in San Marco. Her miniature “prop” mask cost another 30 euros and added interest.
My mask and basic black tri-corner hat went for fifteen euros each. The cape was more — 150 euros for a good, quality cape. Add to that my black scarf-mantle for 10 euros and then I splurged on the gloves for 36 euros. I had my silk tux scarf for a psuedo-jabon, already — that worked fine. You might be able to bring something similar.
So, by going the middling route, at around 250 euros each, we were an acceptable part of the show. The capes are the biggest “bang-for-buck” articles — they hide what’s underneath, so you don’t need to put a lot of effort into period shirts and pantalones and the like. Rose’s cape effectively hid a full-length coat underneath without appearing bulky, at all.
And, that’s all this year. The next time we visit, we can add on or do something else.
Of course, you can scale up from there. Tradition has it — invented by costume-makers, we suspect — that you change costumes every day. Our packing sensibilities don’t permit that, at least not this trip. We have to get this stuff home.
If you want to go to one of the grand balls, you’ll need a quality, ‘extravagent’ period costume, like the one pictured right.
There are several shops around from which to rent, but you need to reserve a good month in advance, we’re told. Expect to shell out at least 200 euros for a 24 hour period.
If you just can’t contain yourself and have to own it, it will set you back about 2000 euros.