The Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), which is the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

[2] According to legend, the Carnival of Venice began after the military victory of the Venetian Republic over the patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrich II, in the year 1162.

[1] The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centrepiece of its efforts.

[2] One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella ("the most beautiful mask"), which is judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.

Since 2007 the winners have been: In February 2020, the Governor of Veneto Luca Zaia announced the decision to call off the Carnival celebrations in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.

Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (Saint Stephen's Day, December 26) and the end of the Carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday (movable, but during February or early March).

Mascherari belonged to the fringe of painters and were helped in their task by sign-painters who drew faces onto plaster in a range of different shapes and paying extreme attention to detail.

Nowadays, most Italian masks are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are hand-painted, using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

One scholar argues that covering the face in public was a uniquely Venetian response to one of the most rigid class hierarchies in European history.

The bauta (sometimes referred as baùtta) is a mask, today often heavily gilded, although originally simple stark white, which is designed to comfortably cover the entire face; this traditional grotesque piece of art was characterized by the inclusion of an over-prominent nose, a thick supraorbital ridge, a projecting "chin line", and no mouth.

In the 18th century, together with a black circular or semicircular clasped cape[19][20] called a tabarro (and zendale hood[21]), the bauta had become a standardized society mask and disguise regulated by the Venetian government.

Its role was similar to the anonymizing processes invented to guarantee general, direct, free, equal and secret ballots in modern democracies.

Given this history and its grotesque design elements, the bauta was usually worn by men, but many paintings done in the 18th century also depict women wearing this mask and tricorn hat.

During the 16th century in the Republic of Venice, homosexuality was illegal and punishable by death by hanging and burning in Piazza San Marco.

The striking design originates from 17th-century French physician Charles de Lorme who adopted the mask together with other sanitary precautions while treating plague victims.

[31] The mask is often white, consisting of a hollow beak and round eyeholes covered with crystal discs, creating a bespectacled effect.

Another classic character from the Italian stage, Pantalone, possibly stemming from the Italian pianta il leone referencing the conquests of Venice and the origin of this character, is usually represented as a sad old man with an oversized nose like the beak of a crow with high brows and slanted eyes (meant to signify intelligence on the stage).

Theirs is a half mask in leather, presenting themselves with low forehead, bulging eyebrows and a long nose with a reverse curve towards the end.

[32] The Zanni are often the supporting characters in a commedia performance, often fulfilling similar societal roles as Arlecchino, although with smaller parts.

Venetian masks feature prominently in the films Eyes Wide Shut and Marco Bellocchio's The Witches' Sabbath.

The song Carnival of Venice is popularized by violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini, who wrote twenty variations on the original tune.