L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 4 FRANCESCA BEZZONE NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS A Venetian Carnevale: the Marega family and the mascareri tradition T h e r e a r e t w o words that truly define the essen- c e o f I t a l i a n Carnevale: the first is maschera, or mask; the second is — of course — Venezia. While every corner of the country celebrates this time o f t h e y e a r w i t h p a r a d e s , m a s q u e r a d e s a n d f l o a t s , there is no denying that, even when considering the most famous, the most histo- rically interesting Carnevali (Viareggio, Ivrea, Putignano, Rome, just to name a few), the one in Venezia is the most iconic and luxurious. T h e C a r n e v a l e d i Venezia, timeless, elegant and beautiful, has the ability to carry us all back in time to e x p e r i e n c e t h e o p u l e n c e , wealth and cheerful mystery of a time, the 18th century, when La Serenissima was t h e c e n t r e o f t h e w o r l d . Then, just like today, the secret of Carnevale's seduc- tion was all in one thing: la maschera, frivolous acces- s o r y a n d p i e c e o f a r t , s y n o n y m o f d i s g u i s e , o f mystery, of prohibited love. I n V e n i c e , h o w e v e r , masks are even more than that: they are art, craftsman- ship, creativity, they are the result, in many a case, of traditions and professions passed on from a generation to another, a perfect exam- ple of Made in Italy's con- tinuity. The Marega family has been creating and crafting handmade, luxury masks for almost 40 years, in their city centre Venice atelier. It was Carlo Marega to open a small shop in 1981 and to start crafting masks, when he realized how attracted tourists were to this precious i t e m o f I t a l i a n m a s t e r y . M a r e g a s o o n b e c a m e s y n o n y m w i t h r e a l Venetian craftsmanship, even more so after the ope- ning of Atelier Marega, which does not only produce m a s k s , b u t a l s o p r e c i o u s period costumes. Carlo's work continues today through his family, i n c l u d i n g d a u g h t e r Chandra, who is part of Atelier Marega's team and w i t h w h o m L ' I t a l o - Americano had the pleasu- re to chat this week, just as this year's Carnevale cele- brations are in full swing. The history of your activity seems the embo- diment — let me pass the e x p r e s s i o n — o f t h e "American Dream:" you started with a small, 25 square meters atelier a l m o s t 4 0 y e a r s a g o , ended up opening four stores in Venice and, 15 years ago, also a fashion atelier, Atelier Marega. W h a t ' s b e h i n d t h i s incredible professional and creative growth? Y o u c a n r e a l l y s a y "American Dream," because Atelier Marega's founder, my father Carlo Marega, began working in a glass fur- nace when he was only 11. In the early days of his career, in 1981, he opened a small shop sel l ing handcr afted glass objects but he soon r e a l i z e d t h e m a r k e t f o r h a n d c r a f t e d m a s k s w a s growing, especially since Carnevale had returned "en v o g u e " i n t h e c i t y . S o h e began making and selling them. The business grew so much we, indeed, had four stores across Venice at one point but, unfortunately, the 2008 economic crisis forced u s t o s e l l t h r e e o f t h e m . Today, we are active with our atelier in Calle Larga S a n P o l o 2 9 4 0 / b , o n t h e c o r n e r w i t h C a l l e G o z z i : we're just a stone's throw f r o m t h e B a s i l i c a d e i Frari. But we opened two online stores, one on Etsy a n d o n e o n o u r w e b s i t e which, by the way, is going to be entirely renewed after Carnevale. M y f a t h e r C a r l o f e l l immediately in love with creating masks: he enjoyed m a k i n g a l l k i n d s , u s i n g every type of material and decoration. So, at least initially, your father Carlo's work didn't involve crafting m a s k s . W e r e t h e r e other reasons, beside people's renewed intere- s t i n C a r n e v a l e , t h a t m a d e h i m b e c o m e a mascherero? It's been a mix of factors, really. As I said, there was the fact Carnevale returned to be popular in Venice and also the interest and pas- sion my father discovered to have for the production of masks. But I think what really made the difference was the increasingly high number of tourists who asked for them. People coming to Venice wanted to b r i n g h o m e s o m e t h i n g authentic as a gift for friends a n d f a m i l i e s , o r j u s t t o remember the lovely time they spent in the city. You see, when you buy a hand- c r a f t e d m a s k , y o u b r i n g home a piece of the craft- s m a n w h o m a d e i t : m y father always loved that idea. Chandra, can you tell u s s o m e t h i n g m o r e about the masks Atelier Marega produce? Which techniques do you use and how traditional are they? There are different tech- n i q u e s b e h i n d e a c h a n d every mask. I'd like to start with one of my favorites, the "crecklé." A special, crackling varnish is applied on the mask and let dry for a m i n i m u m o f 2 4 h o u r s . After that, the varnish starts affecting the way the mask looks, giving it a "crackled" appearance. But that's not it! To complete the procedu- re, our craftsmen delicately Two masks in 18th century attire in Venice (Photo: Atelier Marega) Continued to page 6

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