Polichinelle is the French version of the Neapolitan Pulcinella, who was brought to France by the Italian puppeteers and became famous in the seventeenth century at the Paris Royal Court thanks to the comedian Michelangelo Fracanzani. This character enjoyed immediate success and became one of the protagonists of the marionette and puppet theatres. He also appeared at markets and fairs to cheer up the public as an aid to street traders and barkers of various types. Polichinelle has a huge hunch on his back and he wears a mask with a big hooked nose. He wears a colourful costume with a tight and low belt which highlights his swollen stomach. The French mask’s typical characteristics and roles remind us more of a seventeenth century condottiere than of the Italian Pulcinella. In its different versions, Polichinelle happened to have two hunches, a cone-shaped hat with cock feathers as well as his typical cocked hat, which was sometimes adorned with bells.
