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The Carnival of Venice with its fancy gondolas. Photo by Gribayedoff.

Actually, the Carnival of Venice (the Venetian Mardi Gras) was suppressed by French and Austrian invaders during the Napoleonic wars and not revived until 1979. The photo was more likely taken during the annual Regatta Storica, held in September, which features a water parade of decorated gondolas and large boats.

Source:
Outing magazine, vol. LI no. 6, March, 1908, p. 650.

Vance Thompson's Cab Drivers / 46

The Gondolier of Venice / 7 His Sports and Amusements

Giuseppi crossed himself. To be sure a fire-launch had cut past us and a police-boat was coming head-on, but neither one nor the other was a reason for crossing one's self at mid-hour. Suddenly there darted out of a side canal a gondola – and it was blood-red, red as bull's blood, fiercely, horribly red. I imitated Giuseppe. Never before had I understood how beautiful my slim, black, stately gondola was, nor how wise the old law of Venice which banished color from the lagoons and waterways.

"'Tis the boat of a tradesman," said Giuseppe, leaning toward me, "a cloth-dealer, – may the devil take him and his scarlet sin!"

The "Amen!" did not stick in my throat.

We were on our way to the August regatta, a race for the white and gold banner, the royal, between the Nicolotti and the Castellani. Into these two sections the gondoliers of Venice are divided, though as I have said, they are subdivided into many guilds. They are the descendents of two popular factions which once quarreled here along the Adriatic. The old bellicose humor has quieted down into sportsmanlike rivalry. The oar decides the supremacy that was once settled by the knife. The Nicolotti, they of the black sash and cap, hold still one-half Venice, including the railway station; while the Castellani, wearing the red, hold the waterways by the Public Gardens and one side of the Grand Canal. The border – the debatable ground between them – is marked by the church of San Trovaso. This church has two doors – one on the side of the Castellani, the other opening to the Nicolotti, nor may either faction enter at the other's door. Nowadays all rivalry, as I have said, is that of the oar. There are four notable races a year. The first is rowed in May for a banner of red and gold; the white and gold pennon and, as well, the green in August; the blue pennon in October.