Venice – the city of masks
It was called ‘the city of masks’ Carnival lasted for six months, and people wore masks the entire time. The gambling that went on day and night was described by the Great Council as ‘solemn, continuous, universal, violent’. Nuns wearing pearls and low-cut gowns fought among themselves for the honor of serving as mistress to a visiting papal nuncio. Ladies carried daggers and pistols for the management of their love affairs – which they preferred to be quick and without deep emotional involvement.
The official passport to the Venice Carnival was the Domino, a bizarre costume that combined the mask Bauta, a hood of velvet silk and a three-cornered hat.
The Domino did hide all signs of class and swept away all barriers. With the mask in place, one could do or say as one pleased. Priest in Dominoes could conduct love affairs with impunity; working girls could sit next to patrician women at the gambling table. The Venetians were permitted to wear their Dominoes six months of the year from October to Lent. During the six months Carnival, many nobles removed their mask only to go to bed. Commoners frequently did the same, and during Carnival the two classes mixed as equals. It was the mask that finally brought democracy to Venice.
