'No. It was just like Carnival. It was just to wear what you like and make people look at you and you look at the people.'
However, Maria notes that the foreign scene has changed dramatically since then.
'Yes, there is fetish and BDSM, but also a lot of sex,' she frowns. 'But when we went, no. Now things have changed; it's more of a business now. Before, there was a lot of passion, real passion.'
When she puts it like that, the two of them come across as fetish purists.
Having frequented theme nights while living in Milan—Italy doesn't have any dedicated BDSM clubs—they decided to try and organize some old-school parties in Venice when they moved here a couple of years ago.
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| The poster for one of Max and Maria's parties |
Their debut effort, themed 'Saints and Sinners,' took place during Carnival on a Grand Canal palazzo that looked like a little church.
'The first party… it was very, very…'—Max struggles, as if he's trying to describe something ineffable like a sunset—'…beautiful.'
There's that word again.
'The best.'
The party roped in 300 fellow fetishists, mainly from the Veneto region, who paid €35 each (about $45) to frolic in black-and-scarlet splendor with a king-sized bed in the middle of the dancefloor.
But Max and Maria had splashed out nearly €30,000 on the event.
Despite their massive loss, they persevered in their Venetian dream, hosting two more parties in an attempt to restore Venice's reputation as a center of decadence.
One party took place near the city's holiest of holies—St. Mark's itself—and the local hotels set the police on the revelers.
Maria pinches her forehead in exasperation as Max explains.
'We thought Venice would be the best playground for fetish because it has a long history of sensuality and eroticism. But the problem now is that this is not a city for eroticism or fetish. Venice was the center of libertinism when it was a world power. Now it's like Disneyland.'
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