Venetian tradition in crisis?

‘With over 2,000 shops selling traditional Venetian masks in Venice, the market is too saturated to hold: in the early 90s there were just 12 artisans making them,’ says a report by the Confartigianato. According to the report, over 60 percent of the shops in Venice selling traditional masks registered a significant fall in sales. Many of Venice’s mask-makers and artisans point the finger at cheaper foreign imports and Italy’s higher costs for raw materials.