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From Greek theater to Carnival: the masks!

From Greek theater to Carnival: the masks!

The use of masks in ancient Greek theater traces its origin to the cult of Dionysus.

With the Dionysian festivals one might consider the beginning of organized Greek theater.

Dionysus, God of "otherness" often represented with a mask on his face, becomes the emblem of Greek masks, that of comedy and tragedy, representing his duality: joyful and convivial on the one hand, of great sadness on the other.

In Greek theater, the mask gave the opportunity, with its size, to be well seen by spectators sitting in the tiers furthest from the stage.

The actors, all strictly men, used masks to put forward different characters, including gods, who could in no way be represented by a human face.

Several centuries later, with the commedia dell'Arte, we look back to the tradition of medieval jesters and acrobats, whose rather bizarre way of dressing and moving cheered up court and square festivals amid jokes and scenes of wedding life

Of masks, in a metaphorical sense, spoke our countryman, Luigi Pirandello, in his "One, None and a Hundred Thousand"

"There is a mask for family, one for society, one for work. And when you're alone, you remain a nobody. Nothing is more complicated than sincerity. You will learn to your cost that on the long journey of life you will meet many masks and few faces."

With Carnival masks, the season anticipating Lent opens in the present day. Adults and children dressed up in the most traditional masks of Harlequin, Pantalone and Punchinello, but also a wide variety of modern characters, fill squares, private parties, parades and public celebrations.

The dates of Roman and Ambrosian Rites divide the Bel Paese, which remains united in the celebration of a holiday in which for a few days everyone sets aside his or her personality to become other-than-self, coveted, hoped-for.

To Dionysus, Agamemnon and Tiresias, with their contradictions and the legends by which they are enveloped, is dedicated our "Masks" collection of the NUDE line.