This year the carnival ends on Tuesday February 21st, there is still time to go to Venice to celebrate. Its origins are very old: the first mention goes back to a document from Doge Vitale Falier from 1094, which deals with public entertainment and in which the word carnival is mentioned for the first time. The introduction of Carnival by the Venetian oligarchies is generally attributed to the need of the Serenissima, as already happened in ancient Rome (see Panem et Circenses), to grant the population, especially the most humble social classes, a time of their own, devoted exclusively to fun and festivals where Venetians and foreigners flocked all over the city to celebrate with wild music and dancing. Through the anonymity that masks and costumes guaranteed, a kind of leveling of all social divisions was achieved and even the public ridicule of the authorities and aristocracy was permitted. Such concessions were widely tolerated and viewed as a providential outlet for the tensions and discontent that inevitably arose within the Republic of Venice, which imposed strict limits on its citizens on issues such as general morality and public order.