BY: VINCENZA DI MAGGIO
18th Century, Venice. Circling about the snaky, torch-lit alleyways of the ancient city are swarms of masked men and women. Before leaving the house, members of all social ranks change their names, leaving their titles and inhibitions at the door. Men dress as women, women as men, priests pursue prostitutes, married men and women meet with lovers in unlit street corners, nobles and foreigners illicitly gamble the night away in smoky dens, covertly hidden behind barbershop entrances.
Another disguise. The mask allowed people from all social classes and walks of life to take on an anonymous persona. Historians define it as a period of debauchery, hedonism, revelry, violence, scandal, and deceit. Moral codes were overturned by a population fixated on giving in to their forbidden desires and achieving ultimate pleasure. What sounds like a scene from a storybook, was real life. This was the Venetian Carnevale of the 18th century.
SOURCE: http://www.italoamericano.org
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