During the Napoleonic occupation of Italy, instigators of reform and critics used the carnival masks to hide their identities while fueling political agendas in the performances, challenging social rule and hurling blatant insults and criticisms at the regime. In 1797, in order to destroy the impromptu style of carnival as a partisan platform, Napoleon outlawed the Commedia dell’arte. It was not reborn in Venice until 1979.
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