By Laura Mancebo, Aldara Fernández, Maite Linares & Teresa Roquero

The Venice Carnival is the most internationally known festival celebrated in Venice, Italy, as well as being one of the oldest. This congregation of masked people, called Venice Carnival, began in the 15th century, but the tradition can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th Century.

The streets of Venice Carnival were full of people in masks, and no differentiation could be made between nobility and the common people. Generally, the costume worn was a cloak with a long-nosed mask. Also popular were masked couples, where a man and a woman would dress as allegorical characters.

Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival. Venetian masks can be made in leather or with the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design and decoration and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

The mask-makers had their own statute dated 10 April They 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.

Various pictures about: