Pulcinella
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pulcinella, often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the Commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry.
His main characteristic, from which he acquired his name, is his extremely long nose, which resembles a beak. In Latin, this was a pullus gallinaceus, which led to the word "Pulliciniello" and "Pulcinella", related to the Italian pulcino or chick.
According to another version, "Pulcinella" derived from the name of Puccio d'Aniello, a peasant of Acerra, who was portrayed in a famous picture attribued to Annibale Carracci, and indeed characterized by a long nose. It has also been suggested that the figure is a caricature of a sufferer of acromegaly.[1]
He usually wears a black mask and long white coat, and has loose and straggly hair. According to Pierre Louis Duchartre, his traditional temprement is to be mean, vicious, and crafty: his main mode of defense is to pretend to be too stupid to know what's going on, and his secondary mode is to physically beat people.
[edit] See also
Pulcinella features in an eponymous ballet by Igor Stravinsky (see Pulcinella (ballet)).
Pulcinella is also the mascot of the Pulcinella Awards, annual awards for excellence in animation, presented at the Cartoons on the Bay Festival in Positano, Italy.
