Carnevale di Venezia's big events in the Piazza San Marco get most of the attention, but activities are going on around the city during the 11 days of Carnival. For example, the Campo Santa Magherita in Dosoduro featured a "World of Aliens" theme the other day, with university students and other young people in homemade costumes beating drums, dancing, and interacting with spectators of all ages. Here's a small collection of snapshots with captions:

The blue aliens arrived first, wearing cotton jumpsuits. Some had masks, others looked human, and several were making noise with remarkably earthlike drums.

Not long afterwards, the green aliens showed up in uniforms that had a vague resemblance to garbage bags. They were carrying small models of distant planets that Italian earthlings might have called palloni.

It wasn't clear whether the alien at right was saying "Take me to your leader" or "What do you think of my Carnival mask?"

 
Not all of the aliens were in groups: This freelance interplanetary couple showed up in their own unique costumes, which incorporated such items as electrical conduit and dreadlocks made of plastic tubing.  

A mascot for Ecolamp, an Italian consortium that promotes energy-efficient lighting, was one of the larger green men (or women--it was hard to tell) in the Campo Santa Margherita.

Green was a popular theme with lighting mascots and two-headed aliens alike.

Even earthbound humans got into the green look.

This little girl wasn't wearing green, but we thought she was as cute as a bug.

We liked this couple's costumes, which could have been described as "hand-me-downs" since they were fashioned from recyclable materials.

 
Stiltwalkers also made an appearance in the Campo Santa Margherita, using homemade stilts and improvised costumes.