Inaugurated in June 2005 by Dario Fo and Franca Rame with the performance "Maschere pupazzi e uomini dipinti", the International Mask Museum Amleto and Donato Sartori is housed in Villa Trevisan Savioli in Abano Terme. Established by Donato Sartori alongside Paola Piizzi and Paolo Trombetta, the institution preserves a collection begun in the 1930s by sculptor Amleto Sartori (1915–1962), who developed a method for shaping leather masks over carved wooden molds for the Commedia dell'Arte.
What to see
The collection spans three floors inside the main villa, whose entrance portal features a stone mask carved into its keystone. The second floor features ancient Greco-Roman mask artifacts, wooden sculptures, bronzes, ceramics, lacquers, and pieces tied to Ruzante's theatrical tradition. It also houses historic costumes, a reconstructed mask maker's workshop, and embossed leather masks produced for directors including Giorgio Strehler, Jacques Lecoq, Gianfranco De Bosio, and Jean-Louis Barrault. The first floor presents contemporary research from the Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali (founded in 1979), featuring multimedia "Gestural Structures" and documentation on "Urban Masking" projects, including works for Brecht's Galileo and Ferruccio Soleri's Arlecchino. The ground floor hosts temporary exhibitions. The total inventory comprises around 2,000 items, including plaster molds, bronze castings, drawings, and global masks.
Visiting
The museum grounds include an Italian garden, a former barchessa, a chapel, and a large orchard. Adjacent structures accommodate educational workshops that host lectures, restoration courses in partnership with Padua University's DAMS program, and the International Seminar on mask art. In the nearby Kursaal gardens, visitors can view a bronze replica of Arlecchino, the final work of Amleto Sartori.
Our editors' tip
Take a moment to examine the keystone above the main portal of the villa before entering: its carved stone mask serves as an architectural preamble to the collection inside.