Italian Carnival Masks

These lovely masks were brought back from Italy by our son and his fiancé. These are just a smaller copy of the centuries old Venetian masks which had been worn during the Carnival of Venice . The masks had also been used as a way of hiding the person,s identity or social status this would let the person act more freely especially if they wanted to interact with others that perhaps they wouldn't have felt brave enough to do before without them. The masks came in useful for such things as romantic encounters or illicit or criminal purpose. These masks I think are called bauta which is full face.