One of Venice's many mask shops, this one featuring ornate character masks. (Photo via wikimedia)

Venice is home to many iconic images: the elegant Rialto Bridge, the impressive Piazza San Marco, regal gondolas, and elaborate masks.  Carnevale masks.  And over the next few weeks, anyone visiting Venice will see a lot of them.  But how did these masks, and the tradition of wearing them, come about?

While Venice started celebrating Carnevale in the 11^th Century, the tradition of dressing costume didn’t develop until the 1400s.  It was then that mask makers, or mascareri, rose up the ranks, even getting their own guild and special set of laws.  By the 1700s, Carnevale lasted from December 26 through Ash Wednesday with endless parties, gambling, and overall running amok.  It was during that time that Venetians became one with masks, adopting them as a way to gain anonymity in order to carry out secret affairs, take part in illegal activity, or even to cast a vote as masks became approved and sometimes even required by the Venetian government.  However, once Napoleon came to power in 1797, Carnevale and its masks became things of the past.

Two hundred years later, masks made a comeback thanks to a few local students at the Academy of Fine Arts.  Now the wonderful works of Venetian art are everywhere—so varied and so abundant that there is a perfect mask for everyone: the mouthless bauta with its elongated, pointy chin; the traditional black velvet moretta that is held in place by a bit in the wearer’s mouth; a basic oval volto decorated with hand-painted embellishments; a commedia dell’arte mask based on both traditional characters and figments of the imagination; or the mysterious plague doctor mask with its long beak.

Venetian masks have grown so popular that they are even worn during Carnevale celebrations elsewhere in Italy.  But still, there is nothing like selecting this ornate souvenir—be it glittery and feathery, wooden and ghoulish, plain and mysterious, or classic and simple—in Venice, the place where masks and Carnevale are best celebrated.

Learn more about Carnevale 2011 here.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Art, Italian Festivals, Italian History, Italian Holidays, Italy Travel Tips, Veneto, Venice, Winter in Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.