Foreign visitors in the 16th century were convinced that in Venice, during the roughly six-month Carnival period, masks enjoyed great liberties, perhaps even excessively so; their excessive use could foster criminals and thus destabilise public order. One example of this is the Bauta mask, a uniquely Venetian costume consisting of a black cape and a tricorn hat worn over a completely white face. Both men and women could wear this costume, and the mask's distinctive shape, with a wide, protruding upper lip, allowed for eating and drinking without removing it. Furthermore, the very narrow space for the nose also altered the wearer's voice.

What destabilised foreign visitors was not only the total anonymity afforded by the costumes and masks, but also, above all, how well these elements were integrated and accepted into the city's daily life. Until the mid-18th century, according to the Venetian church, "even though they are masked, they do not forget, disguised as they are, to go to church." Even the clergy enjoyed Carnival by donning costumes of all kinds, just as laypeople often opted for cassocks, or even imitations of the Doge and his court, as their choice of disguise. This freedom certainly struck outsiders as totally inappropriate within the canons of good decorum.

Since the 16th century, the Council of Ten has attempted to curb the excessive use of masks through various regulations, including bans on dressing up as saints, wearing masks outside Carnival, attending Mass in disguise, and carrying weapons. The constant presence of these directives, which persisted for two centuries, suggests that the issue was extremely complex in Venice and that the Council of Ten never succeeded in definitively regulating the correct use of disguise.