Anti-Mask Law

 

The main feature of the Venice Carnival has always been the stunning masquerade costumes and masks. Masks used to have symbolic and functional features. During the Venice Carnivals in the past the streets of Venice were full of the people wearing masks which allowed them to protect their identity and remove any social differences. Besides, masks allowed a wearer hide his identity during licentious and dissolute activities. The earliest documented mention of people wearing masks dates back to 1268 when masked people were banned from playing various games by law. 

 

When the Great Council prohibited to throw scented eggs filled with rose water towards strolling ladies, Mattaccino masks became the first law regulated masks. They were worn by young nobles dressed as clowns. This ‘game’ turned out to be so popular that the government even made a decision to install nets to protect those ladies from soiling of their expensive garments. In 1339 another law prohibited masked people from visiting nun's convents, painting their faces and wearing false beards and wigs (in order to protect people from robbers and murders who regularly wore them). The lack of any other documented sources about masking suggests that people did not wear them frequently before the 13th century.