It’s time to spruce you up and enjoy the carnival! The mask is not only a tool for the performance but also daily wearing commodity for Venetians to cover their face so that they could be as much as yourself. Do not miss the chance of wearing a mask in Venice and show up the real person inside you! Here’s the list of the carnival masks which have been loved by Venetians.
The Baùta is one of the most quintessential Venetian masks. This mask is usually with a tricorn and a long cape. The mask is originally white coloured without particular decoration, but nowadays you could also find lots of gold coloured Baùta with various adornments. You might regard that eating with this mask is impossible because the mask covers your mouth part. In fact, the tilted upward jawline enables to eat and talk easily!
The mask of Moretta is covered with black coloured velvet. Moretta masked characters during carnival cover their hair with black veils with wide-brimmed hats. Moretta represents french in original but became famous as women’s mask in Venice since the 17th century. The most famous mask following the Bauta mask is Moretta!
The mask called Medico della peste means the plague specialized doctor. This mask is usually accompanied by a black hat, long coat, white gloves and cane. It is basically from the clothing of Charles de Lorme, French plague doctors from the 17th century. The eyes holes made of transparent glass and a beak-shaped mouthpart are for sanitary practices to prevent becoming infected. You would not deny feeling creepy about this mask but that is the reason that this catches our eyes!
Pantalone is an old merchant in Venice on Commedia dell’Arte. He is such a cheapskate and also known as a protagonist represents ‘money’ in the theater. The mask highlighted with bushy eyebrows and moustache. His symbolic costume is a black cape and red pants. Since the back story of Pantalone is based on Venice, putting on costumes as Pantalone is all about being loved from Venetian people!
The Volto, Italian for face, is the iconic modern Venetian mask. Different from the other masks introduced, this covers the entire face even the whole chin. Since this mask is not originated from Commedia dell’Arte, the jaw is stuck on the mask rather than hinged like other masks for performance.
Nowadays, we could easily find the modern version of masks and there are various artists creating ones with their own style. There are not only artists who love the traditional way but also
who loves to create masks using fabrics, lace, or sparkling jewellery. Click here to find stories about the Venetian mask artists!
