Tag Archives: commedia dell’arte

Agostino Dessi is one of the premier mask makers in Italy. For more than 50 years, he has fashioned magnificent facial adornments in celebration of Carnevale in Venice as well as Commedia dell’Arte, a 500-year-old tradition of improvised theater in Italy. I recently had the opportunity to meet Agostino in the mask workshop of his daughter, Alice. Dubbed Alice’s Masks, it is located at Via Faenza 72R in central Florence, not far from the Central Market and San Lorenzo Church. A visit to the shop offers a wonderful perspective on the street theater of Italy. Perhaps a raucous Commedia company …