Venice Carnival in Italy

The modern Venetian Carnival runs up until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (known as "Mardi Gras"), starting two Fridays before the Tuesday. Venice carnival dates therefore vary in step with Easter as follows:
Carnival 2008 - January 25-February 5
Carnival 2009 - February 13-24
Carnival 2010 - February 5-16

Thousands of tourists come to Venice to see and take part in its magnificent Carnival; walking round in fancy dress in this city's magical scenery means taking part in a truly exceptional happening. Those mysterious, disturbing Venetian masks, eyeing you from the city's alleyways are part of what we imagine the Venetian world would have been like 300 years ago. They are an irresistible attraction for what is undoubtedly one of the world's most unique experiences: the re-living of 18th century Venice.

Wearing masks has always been more than just simple fun for the Venetians; it is still a strongly felt tradition with deep cultural roots.

Venetians were famous for being libertines and for transgression - they didn't just use masks during the official Carnival. Putting on a mask in Venice meant taking forbidden liberties: you could jibe at the powerful, gamble without being caught, take risks over love or business deals and even enter convents without being seen. A numbers of restrictive laws passed on dressing up prove how widespread the habit was.

Venetian masks can be made in leather or with the original papier-mache technique. The original masks were rather simple in design and decoration. They often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and golf leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate. Most masks sold in the tourist shops in Venice have nothing to do with the original Venetian masks.

They have three type of masks:
Bauta
Bauta is a "mask which covers the whole face, with a stubborn chin line, no mouth, and lots of gilding". One may find masks sold as Bautas that cover only the upper part of the face from the forehead to the nose and upper cheeks, thereby concealing identity but enabling the wearer to talk and eat or drink easily. It tends to be the main type of mask worn during the Carnival. It was used also on many other occasions as a device for hiding the wearer's identity and social status. It would permit the wearer to act more freely in cases where he or she wanted to interact with other members of the society outside the bounds of identity and everyday convention. It was thus useful for a variety of purposes, some of them illicit or criminal, others just personal, such as romantic encounters.

Moretta
The moretta is an oval mask of black velvet that was usually worn by women visiting convents. It was invented in France and rapidly became popular in Venice as it brought out the beauty of feminine features. The mask was finished off with a veil.

Larva
The larva, also called the volto mask, is mainly white, and typically Venetian. It is worn with a tricon and cloak. It is thought the word "larva" comes from the Latin meaning "mask" or "ghost". It is easy to imagine the effect of a Venetian all dressed in black with a white mask and a black tricorn, going past in the moonlight. Like the bauta, the shape of the mask allowed the bearer to breathe and drink easily, and so there was no need to take it off, thus preserving anonymity. These masks were made of fine wax cloth and so were much lighter and were not irritating to wear making them ideal for eating, dancing and flirting.