Venice: All masks but no carnival

In any other year, masks would be a sign of the gaiety in Venice, an accessory worn for games and parties as big crowds parade about to show off their frivolous, fanciful costumes, especially ones with decorative face coverings.

A young man looks at carnival masks reflected in the window of a shop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

The Italian canal city's Carnival festivities should have started Saturday, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made its annual appointment for more than two weeks of merry-making impossible.

A gondolier navigates the waterways in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Last year, with fears over the new coronavirus mounting, authorities abruptly shut down the Venice Carnival on its third day, just before Italy became the first country in the West to face an outbreak.

A view of an empty St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Back then, a “surge” meant crowds squeezing through Venice’s maze of carless streets, intent on meeting up in the vast St. Mark’s Square.

People walk down a passageway near St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

The day that Carnival shuddered to a stop last year, the confirmed coronavirus cases in all of Italy numbered only 133.

Carnival masks placed on display in a Venetian artisan mask makers workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Now Italy has logged more than 2.5 million confirmed virus cases, including more than 88,000 deaths but not including thousands who died without being tested. A “surge” has taken on a different, more ominous context. Masks are worn now to protect, not amuse.

A woman looks at the Canal Grande or Grand Canal, in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Gondolas and other vessels are moored instead of preparing for Carnival's popular boat parade in the lagoon. Alleys are eerily empty.

A man walks in an empty St. Mark's square arcade in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Venetians and the city's few visitors must be masked in public places, indoors and out, under a nationwide mandate.

A woman wearing a sanitary mask walks next to a carnival masks shop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Italy’s current infection-control restrictions do not allow for traveling between regions.

Carnival masks are on display in a shop window in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Foreign tourism, especially from the United States, dried up in the last year as governments imposed bans on international travel for nonessential purposes.

Venetian artisan mask maker Gualtiero Dall'Osto works in his workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Even if Carnival had been held, relatively few people would have made it to Venice.

Carnival masks placed on display in an artisan mask maker workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A Venetian artisan mask maker works on an item in a workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

The Carnival’s appeal is rooted back centuries, when, for a brief stretch in the run-up to Lent, the Catholic period of penitence that begins on Ash Wednesday, ordinary Venetians would strut about masks, taking on temporary new identities, and for a few days become indistinguishable from members of the proud maritime city’s ruling class.

A Venetian artisan mask maker works on an item in a workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

During Carnival, the mask served to “to protect, to reveal, and also to guarantee anonymity,” says Gualtiero Dall’Osto, who owns Tragicomico, an artisan’s shop making artistic masks.

Venetian artisan mask maker Gualtiero Dall'Osto works in his workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

“Now, paradoxically, we are not able to experience the mask in this way, and we are forced to wear these masks that in some way block the liberation, the freedom, of our so-called senses.”

Venetian artisan carnival mask maker Gualtiero Dall'Osto wears one of his creations in his workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Carnival masks placed on display in a Venetian artisan mask makers shop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A Gondolier stands next to Gondolas docked in St. Mark's square in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A man walks in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A woman wearing a sanitary mask walks next to a carnival masks shop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A Venetian artisan mask maker works on an item in a workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A sanitary face mask hangs next to carnival mask in an artisan workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Venetian artisan mask maker Gualtiero Dall'Osto works on a carnival costume hat made to resemble the COVID-19 virus in his workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

Carnival masks are laid out on display in Venetian artisan mask maker Gualtiero Dall'Osto's workshop in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

A couple walks in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.