What is Pulcinella mask ? What was it used for in history ?

admin

What is Pulcinella mask ? What was it used for in history ?

Pulcinella, one of the most popular ancient masks, is the mask of Naples.

Already known in Roman times and disappeared with the arrival of Christianity, the Pulcinella mask was resurrected in the 1500s with the Commedia dell’Arte and has since been one of the most popular carnival masks together with Harlequin.

Pulcinella is lazy, ironic, opportunistic, cheeky and talkative. He has an insatiable voracity and is always looking for food.
For a plate of macaroni he is willing to do anything: steal, lie, cheat and take a beating.

Pulcinella is of few words, a bit clumsy, but always on the move, looking for ways to escape the prevarication and greed of the rich and powerful.

The color of his costume - trousers and a wide shirt - is white, with a black mask with a long, hooked nose and a white hat made of white cloth.

The name of Pulcinella probably derives from the Neapolitan “pollicino”, which means chick, and refers to the timbre of his voice.

frebeliant

What is Pulcinella mask ? What was it used for in history ?

Pulcinella is a historical Neapolitan mask that has managed to obtain great success all over the world, because it manages to combine lightheartedness with a vein of sadness that makes this mask one of the most loved in the world.

The origins of this character are very ancient, because the first version of this character was created by Silvio Fiorillo, an important Neapolitan actor, around the second half of the sixteenth century.

Over the centuries there were changes, even quite important ones, which changed its features. However, we will have to wait until the nineteenth century to have improvements up to the costume that we all know today, made thanks to the work of Antonio Petito.

However, it is thought that this mask is much older, even if there is no reliable information about it. Its appearance has evolved a lot going to change the color of the mask and change its color from white to black and so on.

wannabe

What is Pulcinella mask ? What was it used for in history ?

Pulcinella and Arlecchino, although they had two different customs and two ways of expressing themselves, are very similar going to become two sides of the same coin.

The multicolored Bergamo mask represents a world very similar to that of the Campania mask, both for its social status and for the relationship between the two characters. The antagonist was Pulcinella while the good was to be found in the Lombard mask.

flavianus

What country is Pulcinella spesific to ?

The name of Pulcinella is, like its most ancient origins, shrouded in mystery. Sometimes it is not possible to be sure of the origin of one of the most important masks in the world.

The most likely origin must be traced to Silvio Fiorillo, who was most likely inspired by a peasant from Acerra who had a long nose and sun-tanned skin.

But it is also hypothesized that the name is simply a variant of a fairly common Campania surname.

lament

Origins of Pulcinella mask

February is the month of carnival: masks, confetti, chatter and black pudding are everywhere and in Naples they become an integral part of a cultural and folkloristic heritage. The most characteristic Neapolitan mask is that of Pulcinella, one of the best known in the world for its history and its origin.

Pulcinella is the symbolic mask of Naples and has a long-lived history dating back to the sixteenth century and contingent on the development of the commedia dell’arte. The extravagant name derives from Puccio D’Aniello: according to some scholars, it would be the name of a peasant from Acerra who, tired of hoeing the land and cultivating the fields, decided to leave everything and join a company of wanderers who was to pass through his native country. Still others argue that the name Pulcinella derives from “Pulcinello”, that is a noun intended to indicate a small chick with a curved and hooked nose and which consequently recalls the face of the Neapolitan mask. Finally, some somewhat more enterprising scholars have identified in Pulcinella the figure of Maccus, the foolish thief and glutton of the Atellane, that is the comedies imported to Rome and dating back to the fourth century BC. with comic and extravagant tones, vulgar and sometimes obscene and based both on the first use of canvases and on improvisation.