(ANSA) - Venice, February 8 - Venice's annual carnival celebrations were in full swing on Monday, promising to combine tradition with modernity, and high-brow entertainment with family fun.

The festivities were launched on Sunday with the traditional 'Flight of the Dove' inaugural ceremony.

The event, which originally saw white birds released from the top of St Mark's 90-metre bell-tower, now involves a white-clad celebrity, representing an angel, being lowered to the ground. This year's 'angel' was the French-Italian heiress and model Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, following in the footsteps of US rapper Coolio and world fencing champion Frida Scarpa, among others Brandolini d'Adda said afterwards the experience had been an amazing one. ''I would do it again in a heartbeat,'' she said.

''Before stepping out, I have to admit I was a little tense. But as soon as I started 'flying', all the fear just disappeared''.

The opening event was followed by a historic re-enactment, with hundreds of young women dressed in costume, while 8,000 people lined the banks of Venice's famed canals to cheer on a brilliantly coloured procession of more than 100 boats.

The Carnival's pre-Lent festivities, which run until February 16, are taking place across the city, in a variety of venues, from top-end hotels and theatres, to the city streets and even its famous canals.

Each of Venice's neighbourhoods has been assigned one of the five senses to celebrate, with initiatives designed to encourage the exploration of sensational flavours, scents, music and art.

In tribute to the Lagoon City's renowned masked balls of the past, many Venetian hotels have laid on extravagant dances, operas, plays and concerts over the 11 days of Carnival.

The Fenice opera house will be transformed into a massive dance floor for one night in order to host the oldest and best known of Venice's balls, the Cavalchina, which will raise money for charity.

But the festival's organizers are also incorporating modern technology to enhance the celebrations.

Carnivalia is one such initiative, a game that uses cell-phone text messages and a map to guide visitors around the city and explain the secrets, history and oddities of Venice and its carnival.

''The initiative is half treasure hunt and half roleplaying game,'' explained Alberto Tosi Fei, who helped write the game.

''It reveals details about the ancient Carnival of Venice, its masked balls, events, characters and customs''. Other events geared specifically towards younger visitors include kids' cooking lessons and the Garden of Creativity.

Staged jointly with the Venice Biennial organizers, this offers workshops creating traditional Carnival costumes, masks and instruments, as well as entertainment and games.

The Venice carnival, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Lagoon City every year, is believed to date back to the 12th century.

The festival was brought to a halt in 1797 when Napoleon put an end to the Venetian Republic.

After taking a break for almost 200 years, it was revived with the help of some local enthusiasts in the 1970s.

It is now a big hit with Venetians and tourists alike. City officials say that, at its peak, it attracts around 80,000 visitors a day.

Its most distinctive feature is the famous Venetian white mask - worn with a black cloak and a tricorn hat - which can be bought almost everywhere in the city during the festival.

Masks are linked to the carnival because when the city fell to Austria during the 18th century, it was one of the few periods of the year that authorities allowed citizens to wear them. The rest of the time they were banned as a threat.

Venetians liked them because they enabled people of different social classes to mingle and get up to mischief together without being recognised.