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"Italy draws in tourists from around the world for a variety of reasons. If you&amp;#039;re not drawn to the historical architecture, fashion, or enticed by the thought of authentic vongole, you may be intrigued by more vibrant cultural venues like the annual &amp;lt;a href=&amp;quot;http://www.carnivalofvenice.com/area.asp?id=4&amp;quot; title=&amp;quot;Carnival of Venice&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Carnival of Venice&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;.  This year&amp;#039;s event takes place on the sinking city on January 25 and will include parades of drag queens and costumed dogs who compete to win best outfit. Over a million visitors are expended to attend the 12 day event. That&amp;#039;s incredible, especially since there are only about 62,000 residents in the city.  One YouTube channel described it as, &amp;quot;Carnival in Venice is the science fiction version of Carnival in New Orleans.&amp;quot; Other events during carnival include balls, concerts and extravagant parties.  &amp;quot;In an effort to update the centuries-old celebration, this year the city has expanded the scope of attractions to include 30 drag queens performing to 1980s music, a parade of masked dogs, exhibitions of hunting with falcons and live outdoor theatre,&amp;quot; Reuters wrote. &amp;quot;In the evenings the squares will resonate with the sounds of tango, operas, a samba marching band, Brazilian carnival dancers and concerts of all sorts of music, from Venetian ska to disco, from alternative rock to Mozart.&amp;quot; The photos shown are from last year&amp;#039;s carnival on February 14 as well as this year&amp;#039;s."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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