Artisan Italian crafts make meaningful souvenirs

Long a city of aristocrats, luxury goods and trade, Venice has an amazing culture. Its fantasy-world atmosphere of elegant decay is like nowhere else in Europe. But with souvenir hawkers everywhere pushing cheap masks, glassy baubles and lacy doilies, it can come across as a tacky tourist trap. Look behind those tired cliches, though, and you’ll get glimpses of Venice’s history.

MASKS

Venice’s ubiquitous, ornately decorated masks are more than just colorful souvenirs — they come with a story. In the 1600s, masks were a practical tool in a physician’s medical bag. When attending plague victims, the doctor crammed the beak-shaped nose of his mask with herbs, hoping to filter the air and prevent the spread of the dreaded disease. (Venice was especially susceptible to plague because of its trading links.)

In the 1700s, when Venice was Europe’s party town, masks became a big part of Carnevale celebrations, the weeks-long Mardi Gras festivities leading up to Lent. Since everyone wore masks, all social classes partied as one. The most popular masks were based on characters from the lowbrow comedic theater called commedia dell’arte: the trickster Harlequin, the beautiful and cunning Columbina, the country bumpkin Pulcinella and the sad clown Pierrot.

Even outside Carnevale season, high-class Venetians traditionally enjoyed the anonymity of a mask. To avoid awkward questions while out and about doing less-than-respectable things — gambling at the casino or patronizing a brothel — they donned a simple mask that hid half of their face, along with their identity.

Masks and Carnevale celebrations pretty much died out with the Venetian Republic, which ended when Napoleon took over in 1797. But the tradition made a

Rick Steves’ Europe/RICK STEVES Lace makers on the Venetian island of Burano are proud of their craft tradition.