Carnival in Rome

We were just talking at my Italian class last week about the Carnevale and I was interested to hear the differing versions of where the word comes from. It’s not disputed that the festival time is a pre-Lenten celebration probably with pagan origins. However there are differing versions as to where the word comes from.Our teacher had it that the name comes from the latin carne levare or similar, meaning "to remove meat", since meat is prohibited during Lent. However there were other suggestions and a quick look at Wikipedia (that reliable source!) has :-a) carne vale, which means "farewell to meat", signifying that those were the last days when one could eat meat before the fasting of Lent.b) carne vale as "a farewell to the flesh", a phrase embraced by certain carnival celebrations that encourage letting go of your former (or everyday) self and embracing the carefree nature of the festival.c) "Carrus Navalis" (ship cart), the name of the roman festival of Isis, where her image was carried to the sea-shore to bless the start of the sailing season.The festival consisted in a parade of masks following an adorned wooden boat, that would reflect the floats of modern carnivals.Wikipedia describes these as folk etymologies and are not supported by evidence.I’ve never been to the Carnevale in Venice or indeed elsewhere so can’t pass on any recommendations that way.

 I would opt for answers a and b at Wikipedia, together, as carne means both flesh and meat and all the pleasures of associated with the two were heavily restricted by the Church during Lent, which comes immediately after Carnevale. As most religious festivals, it has a pagan origin adapted to Christianity. So it is both a farewell to eating meat and to the pleasures of the flesh.

having lived near viareggio for 20 years , it's always so nice when february arrives, otherwise such a dull cold month, but with all the crazy merry making at the carefree viareggio carneval all your woes and winter blues get swept away in clouds of corriadoli and masked animals zapping round on mopeds and just concentrating on having a good old time. thank you viareggio!