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| - You must forgive me if I start gushing and squealing like a school girl; my charming companion and I are in love with Carnivale and collect Venetian masks. In short, this place was heaven to us.
My personal bias aside, this place can only be described as amazing and elegant. Appropriately located off the canals in the Grand Canal Shoppes in the Venetian, you can browse masquerade masks while hearing gondoliers singing in the background. And mind you, these are not cheap knock-offs made from plastic like you find at local Halloween boutiques; these are are the real deal. Made by hand in Venice in the traditional style from papier-mâché, each mask is a one of a kind piece of art. From Bautas, to Voltos, to Medico Della Pestes (plague doctors), they carry a large variety of fine masks.
During our recent trip to Las Vegas, staying in the Venetian during their Carnivale celebrations, we visited this shop several times trying to decide what we wanted to take home with us (it was an unspoken conclusion that we would both bring home a mask or two). In the end, we bought five masks between the two of us. The staff were exceedingly friendly and took very good care to wrap and pack the masks to keep them safe during our flight home, all the while bantering with each other and chatting with us. They clearly cared about what they did and made the experience more enjoyable.
Prices here are not for the faint of heart, however, but are rather reasonable when you consider these are Venetian imports and hand made works of art. Masks can go between roughly $50 and 800$. More advanced pieces will go higher. You can come away with a good full faced mask for $75 and $300 depending on how elaborate a piece you are looking for. The five masks we walked away with set us back over $700. Were they worth it? Absolutely.
If you happen to be looking for an elaborate costume or fancy headpiece . . . expect these to go for a few grand.
Shopping here was a joy, and we adore what we came away with. We know when we come back to Vegas we are going to be making a few more purchases.
One last thing I feel compelled to say in response to commentary from other reviewers about Il Prato's "No Photos" policy is . . . stop and think about it. This shop sits in the middle of a high-traffic tourist attraction filled with clumsy oafs tripping over each other taking pictures of every little with their iPhones. If a mask shop allowed photos, every tourist and their child would be coming in and taking up room to pose for Facebook pictures in their expensive and fragile masks. Of course they don't want that.
Once again, this Il Prato was outstanding.
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