While American-style Halloween has been watered down to being, “the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut, and no other girls can say anything about it,” (Mean Girls,) Venice’s Carnival, or, Carnevale is celebrated in the purest form. Though the event is rooted in Venice, all parts of Italy celebrate this 10-day event in Italy, and the dressing up aspect is taken very seriously– as I got to witness in Venice firsthand.

Men and Women wear elaborate head-to-toe gowns, completed with a delicately embellished mask. The Venetians take the mask portion of the costume very seriously, as there is a contest for la maschera più bella, (the most beautiful mask.) The Venetian mask makers were very high up in society. The masks are based off important characters in Venetian history and people wore masks matching their occupations.

The event became popularized during the…