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Overview of Venetian masks. (Venipedia/Bazzmann archive)

A time for recreation, for easing social tensions, for transgression, for figurative representations of victories and conquests. In the far-sightedness of the Serenissima, this was the time of the year when the population was allowed to do almost anything, levelling out the differences between the nobility and the people.

The word carnival comes from the Latin - carnem levare, meaning 'to remove the flesh' - originally referring to the first day of Lent. Marin Sanudo himself, in his Diarii, uses the word carlevar:In Quarantia criminal, fu preso di retenir una mascara quale Domenica di Carlevar amazò uno zovene sul campo di l'Erba per suspeto di soa moier, et si ha per iudicii esser uno samiter, sichè fu preso di retenirlo.Da poi disnar, Marti de carlevar, non fo nulla. In the square there are very few women in the square: the land is not alien, then it is not possible to make women mascare. La sera, feste, suon

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