Bal Masqué Tiepolo Venice

Bal Masqué Tiepolo: the programme

• 2:00 pm. Entrance to the Scuola Grande dei Carmini and welcome buffet.
• 3:00 pm. Guided tour by Guardian Grande Dr Franco Campiutti.
• 3:30 pm. First set of dances in the Tiepolo Chapter Hall on the Piano Nobile.
• 5:00 p.m. Tea and chocolate break.
• 5:30 p.m. Second set of historical dances in the Salone d’Onore on the ground floor.
• 7:00 p.m. End of the event.

Welcome buffet

• Traditional Venetian sandwich;
• banana chips;
• mini mozzarella in carrozza;
• charcoal buns with creamed salt cod;
• flakes of Grana cheese in its own mould;
• platters of regional cheeses;
• savoury pies with cheese fondue;
• porchetta di ariccia with homemade rosemary focaccia;
• smoked cooked ham with grated horseradish;
• meatballs with BBQ sauce;
• lasagne with radicchio and salamella;
• warm barley and fava bean salad with vegetables;
• grilled vegetables.
• Traditional Spritz – Campari, Aperol, Select and Cynar – Valdobbiadene regional white and red wines;
• fruit juices;
• flavoured water;
• Fonte Antica San Benedetto natural and sparkling mineral water.

Dessert buffet

• Traditional tiramisu;
• Carnival fritters;
• Buranella pastries;
• Coffee, hot chocolate, tea and coffee.

Scuola Grande dei Carmini: a unique place

The Scuola Grande dei Carmini (location on Google Maps) was founded on 1 March 1594 by the ‘Confraternita sive scola’ under the name of the Glorious Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel headed by Bernardin Soardi ‘tellarol’, a manufacturer and merchant of precious fabrics.
Ancient Venetian chronicles, however, tell of the existence of a lay Congregation or Confraternity of women, known as ‘le Pizzocchere dei Carmini’, who met in the adjacent Church of Santa Maria dei Carmini and began building its main structures in 1286.

In 1668 Baldassarre Longhena was commissioned to design and build the two façades on Campo Santa Margherita and Campo dei Carmini, a work that the architect would complete in two years.

On 21 December 1739 it was decided, with 37 votes in favour and 4 against, to entrust Giambattista Tiepolo with the entire ceiling decoration of the Chapter House.

With a decree of the Council of Ten, dated 27 April 1767, the ‘Scuola della Beata Vergine del Carmelo’ was elevated from a minor to a Scuola Grande and subjected to the discipline of the Magistrate of Inquisitors and Revisors over the Scuole Grandi of Venice.

With the decree of 26 May 1807, the French government suppressed all schools and lay religious societies, but already in 1825 the Chancellery of the Scuola was reconstituted and the Guardian Grande was again elected.
The Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph, with a decree dated 7 December 1853, authorised its re-establishment by approving its regulations, staff and granting the title of ‘Archconfraternity’.