Don Juan

Zanni's mask (detail)
Engraving of P.Brebiette - XVIIth century

Thus, in 1699 Andrea Perrucci defines the role of the zanni :
The first zanni can use any dialect, but he is customarily from Milan, Bergamo, Naples or other regions known for their wiles, because the sharpness of the language combined with clumsiness is typical of the Neapolitans and in those from Bergamo…
The second zanni speak different dialects; in Lombardy and in most regions of Italy, one makes them use the language of the valleys close to Bergamo… The role of the first zanni is to sustain the intrigue and to shuffle the cards…
he must know the topic of the play like the back of his hand to be able to lead the plot boldly and to improvise without thinking… to throw in a funny word at the right time but without silliness, in order not to step out of his role and not to suppress the comic absurdity of the second zanni.

The best-known zanni who have travelled through history and across borders are Harlequin and Brighella from Bergamo, and the Neapolitan, Punch.

Legend has it that the two zanni from Bergamo are in the image of the city that, by its topography, includes a lower and an upper part. Arlequino, born in the lower city is by reputation daft and simple, whereas Brighella, born in the upper city, is crafty.

Arlequino is originally a ragamuffin dressed in rags with multiple colourful patches, wearing a hat with a rabbit or fox's tail. This animal tail attached to those one wished to ridicule is a tradition of Antiquity. He wears a round black mask, with hair around the mouth and a wart on the forehead.
It has sometimes been suggested that the colour of his mask was an allusion to the sooty traces that the labourers of northern Italy carried on their face. He is undoubtedly a peasant immigrated to the city, a tramp who is seeking work.
He is enigmatic, very agile and frequently performs madly complicated or languid contortions. His terrors are hilarious and his unexpected expressions full of audacity.
He embodies the opportunistic and ever-hungry servant, qualities then common in the country people.
He evolves considerably with the passage of time and is found in Paris, portrayed by the comedian Dominique Biancolelli as the valet of Don Giovanni, in his version of the Convitato di pietra.
By this time he has become Harlequin, more refined, fanciful and less coarse, although still gluttonous and lecherous; his costume is more elegant and the ragged multicoloured patches have turned into regular lozenges.

Maschere musicanti - Firenze -
Gino Severini

Brighella carrying
the mask.
Statue of the XVIIIth
century Venice factory

The second zanni from Bergamo is called Brighella, and he is the most disconcerting.
His olive mask, oblique eyes and hooked nose, give him a cynical expression. He is dressed in white with strips of green material and wears a flattened beret that makes him look like a mountain marmot. Indeed, in his roles he sometimes embodies the unemployed hill people who travelled to the city to find work, as porters, for example.
For his part, he lives off his wits, theft and temporary work.
He knows how to slip through the net to steal and fools the most wary guards, grabbing at every opportunity that comes his way.

A scheming and cynical hustler, sometimes polished and devious, he likes to rob a miser or flog a creditor. His character is not directly found in the scripts of the Italian Don Juan, but it inspires the valets of the French Comedy of the classic theatre and in particular that of Sganarelle in Molière.
On the other hand, Dorimon portrays him in his Feast of Stone or the Criminal Son as the valet of Dom Jouan, under the name of Briguelle.

Obviously Harlequin and Brighella speak the dialect of Bergamo.

Molière dressed as
Sganarelle, from the Italian
comedy of Louis Molland

Punch in the XIXth century

Pulcinella the third zanni, comes from Naples or more precisely from its vicinity. With a hunchback and a big stomach balanced on two skinny legs, he has the gait of a chicken from which his name is derived. Thus Pullus gallicaceus would have given Pullicinello and then Pulcinella.
He is quick, spirited, insolent and ironic but also inane, cowardly, flattering and occasionally full of himself. His gait is light and agile, his gestures are more self-controlled than the other zanni and he has a certain slowness in his speech and movements.
His favourite tactic is to adopt a simple stance.
He wears the peasant costume of his region, an ample white blouse caught under the paunch by a wide belt. His trousers, also white, are floating and voluminous.
On his head, he dons an immense white, flat skullcap, or a hat in the shape of sugarloaf.
He is an epicurean in the popular sense of the word and he speaks Neapolitan.
This character is very certainly the one that is the most frequently adopted in Europe.

He becomes Polichinelle in France from the 17th century and then looks more like an officer from Gascony.
He is an immense success in the puppet theatre.
In England, he is Punch, more ferocious than his Neapolitan ancestor, his irony becomes more typically English and, in spite of his hump, he is a seducer of the girls of the common folk.
He is called Hanswurst in Germany, and he amuses the public by his slowness of mind and his gluttony.
He is Tonellgey in Holland and Don Christoval or Pulichenela in Spain.

Punch with family
by Pier Leone Ghezzi

Coviello is another type of zanni, but is more rare. One finds him as the valet of Don Giovanni in the Convitato di Pietra by Andrea Perrucci.
He is of Calabrian origin, and is characterised by his grimaces and his “ macaronic ” speech. He is subtle, clever but conceited. He speaks Calabrian and wears the clothes of his region which consists of trousers and jacket of black velvet decorated with gold braid.
His mask has crimson cheeks.


The zanni	The old men	The capitan