Carnival mask workshop · Venice
Pick a papier-mâché mask, paint it your way with a Venetian mask maker at your elbow, and take it home.
Choose a face, load the brush and leave with a Carnival mask that is entirely your own work.
The craft in four numbers
From blank mask to finished face
How a mask painting session usually builds up, from the first greeting to the finished mask in your hands.
A mask maker welcomes the group in a small shop packed with finished pieces. Instruction can be in English, Spanish, Italian or French, and may be bilingual.
You pick a papier-mâché mask to decorate. Guests mention having more than the standard shape to choose from, with different styles on offer.
The mask maker walks you through the steps and you choose your own style and colours. Painting goes in rounds, with drying in between.
Between rounds comes a short history of masks in Venice in earlier centuries. Guests mention a good selection of paints, metallic touches among them.
Guests describe the mask maker adding a last flourish once the painting is done, and say it is easy to lose track of time at the bench.
The mask is yours to take home, a keepsake you decorated from blank to finished.
Options differ in what they include, so read the title of the one you book. Sessions do not run in exceptional high tide and are moved to a following day or refunded.
The craft
Venetian maskmakers, the mascherari, had their own laws and their own guild, with a statute dated 10 April 1436. They counted as part of the fringe of painters, and sign-painters helped them draw faces onto plaster in a range of shapes.
Traditionally masks were allowed from 26 December until midnight on Shrove Tuesday, and also on Ascension and from 5 October to Christmas. By the eighteenth century the habit of wearing one in daily life had shrunk to about three months.
Emperor Francis II outlawed the Carnival in 1797 and forbade masks. The festival crept back in short spells through the nineteenth century and returned properly in 1979, now drawing around three million visitors a year.
Papier-mâché is shredded paper mixed with water and a binder, which dries to a hard, light shell that takes any shape. It suits masks, and it is the blank you paint at a workshop. Maskmakers today often finish theirs with gesso and gold leaf.
Three rooms to paint in
The main workshop, a studio on Giudecca and a palace room on Campo San Polo. Each is run by a different operator.
The classic session is held in a shop full of decorated masks, with the owner at the bench. Guests call the space small and cosy. The meeting point depends on the option you pick.
Carta Alta works from Fondamenta S. Biagio 796, five minutes from the Giudecca Palanca vaporetto stop: turn right, cross the first bridge and walk for two minutes. Sessions are limited to eight guests.
Carta Alta is an artisan mask studio that has made masks for film productions. The session opens with the history of the Commedia dell'Arte masks, the bauta, the moretta and the plague doctor, then moves to its signature baroque technique.
Teatro Che Pazzia holds its workshop on the first noble floor of the fifteenth-century Palazzo Soranzo, at San Polo 2169, with a view over the square. It is air-conditioned and has a sink for washing up.
The palazzo offers more than forty papier-mâché models: historical and Commedia dell'Arte faces, traditional forms and modern shapes for children.
After painting, guests of the palazzo workshop go through the historic halls to photograph their finished mask under painted ceilings among period furnishings.
Masks, in pictures
A gilded jester, a wall of jester masks and two golden fan headdresses, the shapes a painted mask grows out of.
Which workshop
| Workshop | What it covers | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| The classic Carnival mask workshop | Guided decorating of a papier-mâché mask you choose, with a short history of masks in Venice. Depending on the option, paints and supplies, an apron and the mask to take home are included, and the meeting point varies. It is not suitable for wheelchair users or people with walking difficulties. | First-timers, families and groups of friends who want a hands-on hour and a keepsake. |
| Studio workshop on Giudecca | A session at Carta Alta limited to eight guests, opening with the history of the main mask types and the studio's baroque technique, with a wide range of masks to choose from and photographs with your creation. | Travellers who want a small group and a studio that works for film productions. |
| Workshop in Palazzo Soranzo | An hour and a half in a fifteenth-century palace on Campo San Polo, choosing from more than forty models, with all materials and a photo session in the historic halls. Membership of the hosting association is required and its fee is included. It is not suitable for wheelchair users. | Families with children, solo travellers and anyone who wants a grand room to paint in. |
Compare dates and option details on the same GetYourGuide listing ↗
Three workshops
The classic shop workshop, a studio on the island of Giudecca and a room in a fifteenth-century palace. Every one has its own booking page on GetYourGuide, and the widget further down shows more things to do in the city.
Guided decorating of a papier-mâché mask you choose, with a short history of masks in Venice. Depending on the option, paints and supplies, an apron and the mask to take home are included, and the meeting point varies. It is not suitable for wheelchair users or people with walking difficulties.
See dates for this workshop ↗A session at Carta Alta limited to eight guests, opening with the history of the main mask types and the studio's baroque technique, with a wide range of masks to choose from and photographs with your creation.
See dates for this workshop ↗An hour and a half in a fifteenth-century palace on Campo San Polo, choosing from more than forty models, with all materials and a photo session in the historic halls. Membership of the hosting association is required and its fee is included. It is not suitable for wheelchair users.
See dates for this workshop ↗More to do in Venice
Before you go
The classic workshop is sold in several options and not all include everything, so check the title and the inclusions of the one you book. The meeting point also depends on the option.
Dress for paint. An apron is part of what the classic workshop lists, and guests of the palazzo workshop mention being given one.
The classic workshop runs about an hour to an hour and a quarter, and the other two about an hour and a half. Guests say the painting absorbs you, and one family stayed nearly three hours at the palazzo, so leave a wide window afterwards.
The classic workshop is taught in Spanish, English, Italian or French and may be bilingual. Carta Alta runs in English, Spanish and Italian, and the palazzo in Italian and English.
The classic workshop does not run in exceptional high tide. It can be postponed to the following days and otherwise it is refunded.
On arrival at Palazzo Soranzo you may fill in a registration form for the Teatro Che Pazzia association. Membership is needed to enter and no further cost follows, as the fee is in the price.
A guest at the palazzo workshop wrote that masks that were not yet dry could be left and collected later the same day.
The classic workshop and the palazzo workshop are not suitable for wheelchair users, and the classic workshop is not suitable for people with walking difficulties.
Notes from a Venetian costume historian
The stages of a session in sequence, with a tip for each.
Read the note → the masksWhat the main mask types are and where the names come from.
Read the note → the craftHow Venetian maskmakers worked and what a papier-mâché blank is.
Read the note → choosingThree workshops, three rooms, and who each suits.
Read the note → backgroundA short history of the festival the masks come from.
Read the note → familiesWho goes to the workshops and what to expect.
Read the note →FAQ
You choose a papier-mâché mask and decorate it yourself with paints, guided by a Venetian mask maker. The finished mask goes home with you.
No. Guests of all abilities describe being talked through each step and working at their own pace, and one group said you did not have to be artistically inclined to enjoy it.
The classic workshop is about an hour to an hour and a quarter. The Giudecca studio and the palazzo run an hour and a half, and guests often stay longer because the painting is easy to get lost in.
The classic workshop is taught in Spanish, English, Italian or French and can be bilingual. Carta Alta is run in English, Spanish and Italian, and the palazzo in Italian and English.
Clothes you are happy to get paint on. The classic workshop lists an apron among its inclusions, and palazzo guests mention aprons too.
Guests describe families with teenagers and a group whose ages ran from 6 to 74. The palazzo workshop has modern mask shapes made for children among its more than forty models.
The classic workshop and the palazzo workshop are not suitable for wheelchair users, and the classic workshop is also not suitable for people with walking difficulties.
The classic workshop does not run in exceptional high tide. It can be moved to the following days, and if it cannot, it is refunded.
Prices update for your date and party size, and the full total is on screen before you confirm.