ITALIAN FEMALE CARNIVAL MASK!

The past carnival made me realise even more how much we need to dust off the Italian regional masks, both for our children and for us adults! Eleven years ago, as a European volunteer, I had proposed to the National Youth Agency and various organisations involved in European projects to set up at least one in which young people would present the masks of all the regions, doing research, and producing audiovisual and/or artistic products related to each one! Nobody was interested, so now, 36 and a half years later, I am talking about it on this blog and on the YouTube channel!

Here you will find a female mask in particular!

Colombina (in Italian Colombina, meaning 'little dove'; in French and English Colombine) is a basic character of the commedia dell'arte. She is Harlequin's lover, a comic servant who plays the type of the cunning slave, and Pierrot's wife. Rudlin and Crick use the Italian spelling Colombina in Commedia dell'Arte: A Handbook for Troupes. The role of the servant woman was originally that of an entrance dancer: women were not allowed to be part of the story unfolding on stage, but could dance between acts. Eventually, these women became the shapely and gossipy servants of characters already allowed on stage and then, later, the counterparts of Zanni's characters. Colombina was very down-to-earth and could always see the situation for what it really was. She was also sometimes portrayed as a prostitute. Very rarely did she not have something to say to someone or about someone.

She is dressed in a very short, ragged and patched dress, fit for an art master. These characters were usually played without a mask, but with bonnets and a metal choker. She was also known to wear heavy make-up around her eyes and to carry a tambourine, which she could use to fend off Pantalone's amorous advances. Sometimes Colombina was pursued by Harlequin (also known as Harlequin) or was his close friend. It is known that Colombina used numerous disguises to deceive or seduce Harlequin. While most other characters make do with one disguise, Gheraldi's Colombina has several to confuse Harlequin and keep the audience on their toes.

She was often the only functioning intellect on stage. Colombina helped her mistress, the lover, to win the affection of her one true love. Sometimes she is Harlequin's lover, but not always. Sometimes she engages in sexual activity, but not always.[12] She can be a flirtatious and impudent character, a real soubrette.[citation needed]

In Ruggero Leoncavallo's veristic opera Pagliacci, the troupe leader's wife Nedda, played by Colombine, cheats on her husband Canio, played by Pierrot, both on stage with Harlequin and off stage with Silvio.

Although Colombine is one of the names associated with the archetypal servant prostitute, other names under which the same character is played in commedia dell'arte performances include Franceschina, Smeraldina, Oliva, Nespola, Spinetta Ricciolina and Corallina Diamantina. Colombina became the most common name used to describe the sobretta character, especially as Colombine in France and England.

One of the actresses who made this character famous was Silvia Roncagli, the first recorded woman to play a seretta role under the name Francheschina, around 1570. One of the first women to play the role of Colombina was the Italian actress Isabella Franchini Biancolelli. Her niece, Caterina Biancolelli, was one of the most famous serettas with the name Colombina. She played the part around 1683.

The French playwright Molière is reported to have attended many performances of the comédie italienne, or commedia dell'arte. He is also mentioned in a performance by Angelo Costantini of his play Une Vie de Scaramouche, which refers to the writer and poet. This might suggest that the character of the servant in many of Molière's plays, such as Dorine in his opera Tartuffe, may be based on this particular character archetype from the commedia dell'arte.