For travelers to Italy, Carnevale typically means shimmering masks, glamorous balls, and elaborate gowns paraded along Venice’s labyrinth of canals. For those of us who live here (and plan their days around meals and merende), it instead evokes images of bubbling deep-fat fryers and platters piled high with sugar-dusted delights.
No surprise, this roughly one-month lead-up to Lent, when practicing Christians eat all the meat and sweets they can before several weeks of fasting, is one of the most delicious times to dine not only in Venice, but all the way down the boot.
