Venice (AFP)
Doctors, beggars, healers, but also dozens of Venetians participated in the procession commemorating the Great Plague, which had decimated the Serenissima at the end of the 16th century, a tradition with particular connotations in the times of the coronavirus.
This traditional parade marks the end of the Carnival of Venice every year on the occasion of Saint Barnabas and Mardi Gras which precedes Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian tradition.
Because of the coronavirus epidemic, the other Carnival festivities were interrupted at midnight Sunday, before its theoretically scheduled end on Tuesday.
Long black frock coats and white masks with long noses or skulls on their faces, the Venetians strolled from 5.30 p.m. GMT (6.30 p.m.) in procession to exorcise fears, around the majestic Saint Mark's Square.
The mask of the "plague doctor" is one of the symbols of Carnival, with its long nose once filled with aromatic herbs.
Disguised as monks, doctors, prisoners, beggars or plague victims, carrying for some lanterns, they then met near the arcades of the symbolic place of the Serenissima, to recite litanies in Latin, punctuated with lines of irony.
At the end of the parade, the dozens of participants in the parade dispersed in the alleys amid laughter and jokes.
Italy, the most affected country in Europe, has more than 370 cases of contamination and 12 deaths.
A terrible epidemic of plague which struck the city between June 1575 and December 1976, made more than 50,000 victims including the illustrious painter Tiziano Vecellio, known as Le Titien.
In an attempt to contain the disease, the sick and suspected cases were quarantined in two lazarets (hospitals for lepers) then owned by the Republic of Venice.
The end of the epidemic was celebrated with the construction of the basilica of the great architect Palladio on the island of Giudecca.
© 2020 AFP