Houses with a Mask to Ward Off Evil
Many old Italian houses have a relief above the door or below a balcony shaped as a mask to ward off evil spirits. And once you’ve started noticing this detail, it turns city walks into a veritable head hunt.
There are so many architectural styles, trends and details represented in Italy, you become blind to certain elements, however repetitive. At least, that is my excuse for not noticing the relief faces adorning the front of older buildings, until a city guide called attention to the feature. Since then I’ve been seeing faces everywhere.
There are brutal, beastly, grotesque, funny, distorted, scary and bizarre faces. Most of them are sneering, leering or sticking their tongue out as a sign of anger, mockery and disrespect. They are playful rogues designed to scare of strangers.
Slain Monsters on Display
According to the ‘Enciclopedia Italiana’, mascherone masks were used as architectural ornaments in ancient Egypt and the pre-Columbian era. In Greek antiquity, the masks played a role in exorcist rites, where monsters were decapitated by a hero. And bodiless gorgon masks were displayed on everything from temples over city walls to vases as a kind of trophy.
The Etruscans also liked to decorate their buildings with masks that emphasize the physical aspects to the extent that made them appear monstrous and horrible. So in Italy, the use of masks as architectural elements can be traced back to pre-Roman times, and at intervals the tradition has lived on ever since.
Houses with a mask to ward off evil photographed all over Italy.
Period Pieces
A mask to ward off evil saw a strong revival in the Romanesque period of the XI and XII century, and it culminated in the Gothic period with highly expressionistic faces on all kinds of buildings.
Three hundred years later, builders favoured a more classic and less conspicuous design that became gradually more caricatured. And eventually, the masks that had been purely decorative elements attained function with gaping mouths spitting out windows and doors as seen on the extravagant Palazza Zuccari from 1592 in via Gregoriana in Rome.
Other Methods of Home Protection
More modest, ordinary houses made do with a smaller mask above the door or around the ring used to tie up mules and horses. In this way, the grotesques remained a common architectural feature up to the 20th century.
Regrettably, the tradition seems to have died out in modern Italian architecture, where other methods of home protection have taken over. But as history shows the scary faces may return. We can all use a mask to ward off evil spirits.
Ahh, I was wondering about the Roman (and even pre-Roman) link to this tradition. When we were at the Roman theatre in Myra in Turkey, the guide showed us a mask of Medusa and said it used to be fixed to the corner of the theatre to ward off evil spirits. Would love to wander around Italy now, looking out for all these masks.
Julia
Yes, these “Beware of monster” signs have been around long before people started to keep watch dogs.
What a gorgeous way to ornament a building. Some really are frightening and ominous, but all are beautiful.
Yes, the old masters have been highly inventive.
I find this pretty interesting, Mette. Years ago, in Jamaica, builders of new homes would protect the foundations of the houses they build by ‘sealing’ the four corners ostensibly to keep evil spirits out.
Impressive how some ideas seem universal and prop up in various parts of the world.
Interesting! Let me suggest you have a look at Palazzo Bolognini Amorini in piazza Santo Stefano in Bologna: 50 different terracotta heads from knights to soldiers…there is even the devil!
I was there a couple of months ago, and I didn’t even notice. Darn.
I visited some people where the wife was from Italy. When I entered the house, right above within my view was a small ceramic mask-like hanging (three dimensional) head with piercing eyes and a tongue sticking out. The woman said that this was a “spirit” to protect the house from anyone evil who tried to enter the premises. I have not been able to find something like that to put in my house. Does anyone know where something like this may be found?
You can find them on eBay, in Italian antique shops and garden centres. Just search for “mascherone in vendita”.
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