Venice Carnival 2027: Balls, Dates and Ticket Guide

Venice Carnival 2027 runs from Saturday 23 January to Tuesday 9 February 2027. Below are the confirmed ball dates, what each ticket costs as of October 2026, which events have not been announced yet, and how I work as a photographer during those eighteen days.

I live in Venice and I have been the official photographer of Il Ballo del Doge for more than ten years. Every date and price on this page was checked between August and 14 October 2026: on the organiser’s own page wherever there is one, and otherwise on the ticket offices that sell the event. Where an event appears only on ticket platforms and not on the organiser’s site, I say so instead of presenting it as confirmed.

Table of Contents

• When is Venice Carnival 2027?
• What is the Venice Carnival 2027 theme?
• Il Ballo del Doge: the 34th edition, Saturday 6 February 2027
• How much do the 2027 balls cost?
• Which ball is on which night?
• Which balls have not been announced yet?
• Where do you find a period costume in Venice?
• Can you book a photographer during Carnival 2027?
• The history of Venice Carnival
• Where to stay: hotels and planning
• Frequently asked questions

When is Venice Carnival 2027?

Venice Carnival 2027 runs from Saturday, January 23 to Tuesday, February 9, 2027. These dates come from two official sources that agree with each other: the Carnival’s own website and the Comune di Venezia, in its press release of 17 February 2026.

The days that decide your booking:

• Sat 23 – Sun 24 January: opening weekend.
• Thursday 4 February: Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday).
• Saturday 6 February: the night of the big balls. Five balls are dated 6 February — Il Ballo del Doge, Ballo Tiepolo, Carnival in Love, The Legend of Casanova and the Masquerade Grand Ball — and two dinner shows run the same evening, the Gabrielli Opera Gala Dinner and the Carnival Official Dinner Show. They all overlap, so you choose one.
• Tuesday 9 February: Martedì Grasso, the closing day.
• Saturday 13 February: one ball outlives Carnival — Minuetto d’Amore, €450, sold by its organiser as a Valentine’s evening. A single night, four days after the season has closed.
• 14 February: Valentine’s Day itself falls after Carnival. Apart from that one ball, do not book mid-February expecting masquerade events — the city is back to an ordinary winter.

What is not out yet. The institutional programme still has no dates. On 22 September 2026 Venezia Unica, the city’s official ticketing and visitor service, published a first outline of the 2027 edition: the Festa Veneziana sull’Acqua opens it, the Corteo delle Marie falls on the second weekend, the Arsenale Water Show and the street shows return, and Carnival closes on Martedì Grasso, 9 February. None of those events has a date or a ticket yet. The outline does not mention the Volo dell’Angelo or the Svolo del Leon — which does not mean they are cancelled, only that nothing has been announced. The dates go on this page as soon as they appear.

One correction worth making. Several travel sites give 30 January, or 24 January, as the start of Carnival 2027. They are either wrong or confusing the start with a later weekend: the official sources agree on 23 January.

What is the Venice Carnival 2027 theme?

It has not been announced. As of 14 October 2026 there is still no official 2027 theme — not on the Carnival website, not from the Comune, not in the press.

Going by last year’s timing, the announcement should come around the end of October: the 2026 theme, “Olympus – At the Origins of the Game”, was made public on 24 October 2025.

Two things are already known, and they are the ones that affect a costume order:

• Il Ballo del Doge has not published its 2027 theme — “MOREAMORE” belonged to the 2026 edition and does not apply.
• Carnival in Love has: its 6 February ball runs as “Venetia Incantum”. It is the only 2027 ball with a declared theme so far.

Come back at the end of October and this section will carry the official theme. If you are having a costume made rather than rented, that announcement is the date on the calendar you actually need.

Il Ballo del Doge: the 34th edition, Saturday 6 February 2027

Il Ballo del Doge is on Saturday, 6 February 2027, in its XXXIV edition: the organiser’s own page confirms both. Vanity Fair called it “the most sumptuous and exclusive, famous and coveted social event in the world”.

What is confirmed, and what is not

• Date: Saturday 6 February 2027 — confirmed by the organiser.
• Dress code: full period costume, compulsory. Confirmed by the organiser.
• Theme: not announced as of October 2026.
• Venue: the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, as in 2026, is what the ticket platforms list — but the official site does not name it for 2027. Treat it as expected, not confirmed.

Ticket categories and prices (as of October 2026)

• Doge’s Imperial Table: €10,000
• Section Supreme: €7,000
• Supreme Belvedere: €6,000
• Ticket A: sold out
• Ticket B: €4,000
• Ticket C: €3,000 — marked sold out on the booking grid (see below)
• Doge Lounge: €1,600
• After Dinner: €800

Two of the eight categories on the booking grid — Ticket A and Ticket C — are marked sold out as of 14 October 2026, nearly four months before the ball and before the 2027 theme has even been announced. Ticket C is not clear-cut: its own product page on the same site still lists it as available at €3,000, so if that is the section you want, ask the organiser before you give up on it. One category came back: the Supreme at €7,000 was sold out in August and has been on sale again since September. That is how these tickets move — things are released and returned — so the lesson is not that you have missed it, but that the best sections go first. It applies to the costume atelier and to the photography as much as to the ticket.

The organiser’s page also states that the priority rates were valid until 30 June 2026 and “may be subject to change” after that date. The figures above have not moved since August 2026, but they can: check them again before you pay. The organiser’s terms also set a date that matters more than the price: 21 December 2026. Up to and including that day, a cancellation is refunded at 50% of the ticket and any extras, although partial payments are not returned. After it, reservations that have not been paid are released, payment is due at once and nothing is refunded.

Official Il Ballo del Doge tickets

Official photography documentation

Images from my nights at the ball have appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, L’Officiel and Cosmopolitan.

The visionary: Antonia Sautter

Behind the ball stands Antonia Sautter, who turned a carnival party into an international institution. Her costumes appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”, and her atelier holds over 1,500 handcrafted period costumes.

How much do the 2027 balls cost?

Entry prices in the table below run from €350, for the daytime Essence of Carnival, to €10,000 for the Doge’s Imperial Table. All figures below are the published rates, checked in August 2026 and rechecked on 14 October 2026, and they can change — Il Ballo del Doge says so explicitly on its own page.

* Sold by Venice Events and by ticket platforms; prices from Venice Events.

Two things the table cannot show. First, the Dinner Show is sold in two tiers: Standard, from €650 on Monday 8 February to €800 on the two Saturdays and Friday 5 February, and a Premium section at €900–€1,000 on every night except Monday 8 February. Second, at Ca’ Zen the cheapest way in with a costume is not the headline package: both the Ball of Dreams and Carnival in Love sell a Gold side-room ticket at €890 that includes a costume from the simpler Light collection.

Attending one of these? Check my availability for your date →

Which ball is on which night?

Saturday 23 January — opening weekend

Un Ballo in Maschera — sold in English as “A Masked Ball” — Ridotto Ballrooms, Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal, 20:00. €390 for the gala dinner and period ball, or €690 Silver and €850 Gold with a costume included. Period costume is compulsory, as at every ball at the Ridotto, and evening wear is not accepted. The organiser lists the evening as the opening ball of the season, and at €390 it costs less than half the cheapest ticket to Il Ballo del Doge or the Ballo Tiepolo on 6 February: worth knowing if those prices have put you off. Venice in Costume, the organiser. Beyond this, the opening weekend of 23–24 January belongs to the institutional programme, which still has no dates as of mid-October 2026.

Saturday 30 January — the second weekend

The Ball of Dreams — Palazzo Ca’ Zen ai Frari, 20:00, dinner on the piano nobile at 21:00, then a disco from midnight. Five tiers, all on sale: Silver €690 in the side room without a costume, Gold €890 in the side room with a costume from the atelier’s Light collection, and Dream, Luxury Dream and Royal Dream at €1,390, €1,590 and €1,790 in the main hall, with Regular, Luxury and Royal costumes included. Period costume and mask are compulsory in every tier, the Silver included — with the €690 ticket you bring or rent your own costume. It is the first of the three balls at Ca’ Zen, a week before the big Saturday.
Ball of Dreams details and tickets

Don Giovanni: The Dissolute Punished — Hotel Saturnia & International, check-in 18:30, until 01:00: aperitif in the courtyard, dinner with shows, then dessert and dancing. €380 with dinner, or €750 Platinum with dinner and costume rental; carnival costume, or elegant dress with a mask. The date was missing from this guide until October: Saturday 30 January appears in the booking calendar of Venice Events, which sells it, and on two ticket platforms. Same seller, venue and format as The Legend of Casanova on 6 February.
Don Giovanni details and tickets

Carnival Official Dinner Show — Salone di Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, the Venice Casino, 21:00. The 2027 run is eight nights: 30 and 31 January, then 4 to 9 February. Standard tickets run from €650 to €800 depending on the night (€800 on Saturday 30 January), with a Premium section at €900–€1,000. Period costume is compulsory, and evening dress or black tie is explicitly not accepted.
Official Dinner Show tickets (Vivaticket)

Friday 5 February

Ball Minuetto — Ridotto Ballrooms, Hotel Monaco, 20:00, on Friday 5 and Monday 8 February. €430 entrance and dinner, or €780 Silver and €930 Gold, both with a costume included. Period costume is compulsory and evening wear is not accepted. With the two Minuetto 1800 Sundays, the format runs on four evenings in 2027.
Venice in Costume, the organiser

Sinfonie Veneziane — Palazzo Ca’ Zen ai Frari, 19:00 to 01:00: welcome cocktail, buffet on the piano nobile, shows, a casino room and a minuet, with an open bar. One package at €890, which includes a cloak and a gold-leaf mask rather than a full costume; elegant dress with a mask, or a historical costume, is required. Confirmed on the organiser’s own site.
Sinfonie Veneziane details and tickets

Ballo Dalle Rose — also sold in English as “The Ball of the Roses” — Palazzo Rocca, on the Grand Canal, 19:30. €890, or €1,290 with the historical costume included. Cocktail reception, five-course dinner, musicians, singers and dancers, a video light show, and historical dancing led by dance masters. Confirmed on the organiser’s own site. As at all of this organiser’s parties, full historical costume is required, and evening dress or a tuxedo will not get you in. Essence of Venice Carnival, the organiser.

Saturday 6 February — the night

Everything converges here. Five balls and two dinner shows on the same evening, and no way to attend two.

1. Il Ballo del Doge — XXXIV edition. Full period costume compulsory, €800 to €10,000, two categories marked sold out on the booking grid in October 2026. Full details above.
2. Ballo Tiepolo — Ridotto Halls, Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal (Palazzo Dandolo), 20:00. €850 for the gala dinner, €1,200 Silver with a Standard costume included, €1,350 Gold with a Superior costume. In 2026 it was held on Fat Thursday; for 2027 it moves onto the main Saturday. Ballo Tiepolo details and tickets
3. Carnival in Love Grand Ball, “Venetia Incantum” — Palazzo Ca’ Zen ai Frari, aperitif 20:00, dinner 21:00. Five levels, all on sale: Silver Carnival Room €690 in the side room without a costume, Gold Carnival Room €890 in the side room with a costume from the atelier’s Light collection, then Incantum €1,490, Luxury Incantum €1,790 and Royal Incantum €1,990 in the main hall, with Regular, Luxury and Royal costumes included. Historical costume and mask are compulsory in every tier, the side room included. Carnival in Love details and tickets
4. Masquerade Grand Ball — Hotel Principe, near the railway station, check-in 18:30, until 23:30: aperitif, then dinner with singers, dancers and jugglers. €300 Gold with dinner, €750 Platinum with costume rental; carnival costume, or elegant dress with a mask. Sold as The Prince of Venice by Venice Events, and as Masquerade Grand Ball by ticket platforms. Masquerade Grand Ball details and tickets. Do not confuse it with the Gran Ballo Mascheranda at Palazzo Pisani Moretta, which is a different event and has no 2027 edition announced.
5. The Legend of Casanova — Hotel Saturnia & International, check-in 18:30, until 01:00. €380 Silver with dinner, or €750 Platinum with dinner and costume rental; carnival costume, or elegant dress with a mask. Venice Events, which sells it, has had a 2027 page for it, dated Saturday 6 February, since September. With the Masquerade Grand Ball, it is one of the two least expensive ways into the main Saturday. Casanova details and tickets

The same evening also has the Gabrielli Opera Gala Dinner (€420, under Events on more than one night) and the Carnival Official Dinner Show at Ca’ Vendramin Calergi (Standard €800).

Sunday 7 to Tuesday 9 February — closing days

Minuetto 1800 — Ridotto Ballrooms, Hotel Monaco, 20:00, on the two Sundays: 31 January and 7 February. Same price structure as the Minuetto, €430 to €930.

Carnival Official Dinner Show — continues every night through Tuesday 9 February, the closing day. On Tuesday 9 February the Standard ticket is €700 and the Premium €900.

Essence of Carnival — Sunday 7 February, 13:00. €350, or €750 with the costume. A midday aperitif and lunch buffet with live music, then a gondola crossing to a Venetian landmark, where the guests form their own costume parade. It is the only daytime event on this page: every other entry here is an evening dinner indoors, and this is the one where the costumes end up outside, on the water, in daylight. It starts at Palazzo Passi, on the Grand Canal in San Polo, and ends at about 17:00. The dress code is now published, and it is strict: full historical costume, with evening dress and tuxedos not accepted. Same organiser as the Ballo Dalle Rose. Both can be bought as single tickets, and Palio Tours, which co-organises them, also sells four-night hotel packages that pair the Ballo Dalle Rose with the Ballo Tiepolo, with or without Essence of Carnival — from €3,855 per person in a double room, with breakfast, the historical costume, a private fitting and water taxis to and from each party included. Essence of Venice Carnival, the organiser.

Saturday 13 February — the one ball after Carnival

Minuetto d’Amore — Ridotto Ballrooms, Hotel Monaco, 20:00, €450 with dinner, or €700 for the RED ticket, which lets you choose any costume in the atelier. Period costume is compulsory and evening dress is not accepted. The organiser’s own 2027 programme lists it as a Valentine’s evening, four days after Martedì Grasso. It is the only costumed ball that outlives the season, and the reason not to write off mid-February altogether — but be clear about what you are buying: Carnival is over by then. No masks in the streets, no institutional programme, no other balls. Just this one night. Venice in Costume, the organiser.

Events on more than one night

• Carnival Extravaganza — Ridotto Ballrooms, Hotel Monaco, 20:00, €630, or €980 Silver and €1,130 Gold with a costume included. Two separate evenings rather than a run: Saturday 30 January and Thursday 4 February. Confirmed by the organiser.
• Gabrielli Opera Gala Dinner — Hotel Gabrielli, on the Riva degli Schiavoni, on two separate evenings: Saturday 30 January and Saturday 6 February. Welcome at 19:00, a gala aperitif with historical dances, dinner with opera arias, and a buffet of Venetian carnival sweets to close. €420 per person, or €670 with costume hire included, from Venice Events, which sells it; VivoVenetia lists the same two prices. Carnival costume, or elegant dress with a mask.

Which balls have not been announced yet?

These were part of the 2026 season and still had no 2027 edition confirmed by their organiser as of 14 October 2026. I am listing them rather than dropping them, because they are the events people search for by name — and because “not yet” is a useful answer when you are deciding whether to wait.

• Venetian Reflections — waiting for a 2027 date (the organiser’s site could not be reached when I checked in October). The venue changes every year (Palazzetto Pisani in 2024, Palazzo Labia in 2025, Ca’ Sagredo in 2026), so it cannot be guessed in advance.
• The Glass Slippers (Murano) — ticket platforms list it for Friday 5 February, but the organiser’s own event page now returns a 404 and the venue’s site still talks about February 2026. I would wait for the organiser to put it back up before booking anything.
• La Cavalchina at La Fenice — the opera house ball is never announced before late autumn. Worth checking from November.
• Gran Ballo Mascheranda (Palazzo Pisani Moretta) — no trace of a 2027 edition, and its website is offline.

I re-check this list at the end of October, when the theme is due, and again when the official calendar comes out — last year that was mid-January.

Where do you find a period costume in Venice?

The balls above are not fancy-dress parties: at Il Ballo del Doge and at the Official Dinner Show a full period costume is compulsory, and at the Dinner Show a tuxedo will not get you in. Do not use cheap tourist masks for these balls.

• Atelier Antonia Sautter: the creator of Il Ballo del Doge. Bespoke costumes.
• Nicolao Atelier: founded in 1980, makes costumes for opera and cinema.
• Atelier Tiepolo (Venice in Costume): costume rental from the organiser of the Ridotto balls, the Tiepolo and the Minuetto evenings among them.
• Sogno Veneziano Atelier: handcrafted costumes and masks.
• Ca’ del Sol: traditional masks and period costumes.
• Atelier La Bauta: masks and costumes made in Venice.

Many tickets include the costume: the Silver and Gold tiers at the Ridotto balls, and the RED ticket at the Minuetto d’Amore; the Gold and higher packages at Ca’ Zen; the Platinum tiers of the Saturnia and Hotel Principe evenings and the costume ticket of the Gabrielli; and the costume tickets of the Ballo Dalle Rose and Essence of Carnival. Worth comparing against a separate rental before you book. If you are also planning a portrait session and are wondering what works in front of a camera in this city, I wrote a separate guide on what to wear for a photoshoot in Venice.

Can you book a photographer during Carnival 2027?

Yes — I keep one prime slot per day, from 23 January to 9 February 2027. One booking a day, for the whole eighteen days of Carnival. When your date is taken, it is taken.

✓ 40–80 professional photos   ✓ Hidden Venice locations   ✓ Gallery in 7 working days   ✓ 500+ happy clients since 2013

Pre-event portrait sessions

Carnival puts extraordinary costumes into the most crowded streets of the Venetian winter, which is why I schedule portrait sessions before the ball rather than during it:

• St Mark’s Square at dawn: golden morning light, before the crowds arrive.
• The Doge’s Palace courtyard: historic settings that suit a period costume.
• The Bridge of Sighs and the quieter gardens: for couples, away from the main flow.

Sessions, timing and prices are on my Venice Carnival photoshoot page.

The history of Venice Carnival

Venice Carnival traces its origins to 1092. The 18th century was its golden age, the Venice of Casanova. Napoleon suppressed it in 1797; it was revived in 1979 and today draws around three million visitors a year. The balls listed above are the part of the season that reconstructs that 18th century rather than referencing it.

Where to stay: hotels and planning

Accommodation for the ball nights needs to be settled early: on 6 February five balls and two dinner shows run in the same city on the same evening. Every guest needs a room, and at most of them a full period costume as well.

• Aman Venice: privacy in Palazzo Papadopoli.
• The Gritti Palace: the Grand Canal terrace.
• Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel: the historic Hotel Danieli, reopened in July 2026 after a restoration, a few steps from St Mark’s.

Frequently asked questions

Planning your Carnival 2027

The structure of this edition is simple to hold in your head: it opens on 23 January, it peaks on Saturday 6 February when five balls and two dinner shows run against each other, and it ends on 9 February, before Valentine’s Day rather than on it — with a single Valentine’s ball, on 13 February, standing outside the season altogether. The theme and the dates of the institutional programme are the two big pieces still missing; going by last year, the theme should arrive by the end of October.

And Carnival is not the only red-carpet season in this city: every year from late August the Venice Film Festival brings gowns, stars and photographers to the Lido — a different stage, the same city.

Dates and prices on this page were verified in August 2026 and rechecked on 14 October 2026 against the organisers’ own pages and ticket offices. Ball prices can change: check them before booking. Next update: end of October 2026, when the official theme is expected; last year the full calendar followed only in mid-January.