New Year's Eve, Jazz and Samba in St Mark's Square

Music and celebrations are back in St. Mark's Square on New Year's Eve. Fireworks and a seventy-metre-long table are part of a final toast featuring Venice's Jazz Orchestra and the Brazilian samba: this will be the "menu" on 31 December. A New Year's Eve dance procession will head to St. Mark's starting at 9 PM in Campo S. Margherita, the "square" which has been, for years, the heart of Venetian nightlife -- so to speak. From there, two bands of Brazilian percussionists -- the Mitoka Samba and the Berimbau -- will proceed dancing towards St. Mark's, crossing the town by passing over the Accademia Bridge and Via XXII Marzo. The arrival is planned around 11 PM in St. Mark's where a large stage will be erected, as it is during Carnival. The Venice Jazz Orchestra will play standard jazz and, then, with its forty percussionists, will perform a long Latin piece encouraging people to dance. On the long table, there will be plenty of Prosecco bottles that will be uncorked after the midnight countdown. The grand finale with fireworks will light the St. Mark's basin, the square, and the splendid Basilica.
(MC - VeniceWord.com - Dec 15, 2006)