L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano I am heading to San Gio- vanni Bianco in search of the roots of Harlequin. Is his spirit still alive and well in Italian culture? Is Arlec- chino still running amok? Some 17 miles from the city o f B e r g a m o , S a n G i o v a n n i Bianco is a mountain village of Roman origin in an unspoiled corner of the Brembana Valley. The locals are reserved, as diffi- cult to penetrate as Venetian walls, yet obliging, generous- hearted and sensitive to art. Bergamasque people spent many centuries under the rule of Venice, sprinkling them with a pride that one must know to understand their personality. L'Arlechì, as the locals call the famous buffoon in a dialect that sounds unharmonious to the majority of Italians due to its guttural syllables, was invented by a man of the theatre from a hamlet in San Giovanni Bianco. The tiny place's name is Oneta, w h e r e t o d a y t h e H o u s e o f Harlequin still stands at Palazzo Grataroli in all its splendor. As a child, I adored the pop- ular stock character in Italian improvisational theatre, a form known as Commedia dell'Arte. His colorful patched clothing, his two-cornered hat, his wood- en baton-twirling act and the poses of an acrobat made me smile. I was amused by his vim, vitality and irreverence. I sat spellbound in front of that per- sona played by an actor or any other person. In primary school, my male classmates dressed as Harlequins f o r C a r n i v a l . S o m e y e a r s I d r e s s e d a s C o l o m b i n a , Harlequin's girlfriend, a down- t o - e a r t h f e m a l e s e r v a n t w h o could always see the situation f o r w h a t i t w a s . S h e w o r e a ragged dress and carried a tam- bourine she could use to fend off the amorous advances of master Pantalone. She knew how to confuse Harlequin and keep the audience on its toes. I enter San Giovanni Bianco: narrow roads and traditional stone houses characterize this scenic locale crossed by seven bridges. From here you enjoy vast views over a patchwork landscape of hills. T h e j o u r n e y t h a t t o o k Arlecchino from 16th-century Bergamo to 18th-century Paris and Venice started from Oneta, t h e b i r t h p l a c e o f A l b e r t o Naselli, a seminal actor and company manager in the early C o m m e d i a d e l l ' A r t e . A l s o known by his stage name Zan Ganassa, he was the very first to play the role of Harlequin. B o r n i n 1 5 4 0 a t P a l a z z o Grataroli, Naselli specialized in Zanni roles, the manifold ser- v a n t c h a r a c t e r t y p e s o f Commedia dell'Arte. The Zanni typified dispos- sessed immigrant workers from the Brembana Valley. On stage, their job is to advance the action and give some movement with a c y n i c a l t w i s t . T h e y p o s s e s s common sense, wit and a predis- position for practical jokes. The term Zanni is a diminutive form o f t h e n a m e G i o v a n n i . Arlecchino is the most success- ful Zanni of them all. After per- forming in Mantua and Ferrara, Naselli headed to Paris in 1571 where he created Arlecchino. At the time his company was the first Italian troupe in the French capital. In 1572, he and h i s a c t o r s w e r e i n v i t e d b y Charles IX to entertain at the wedding of his sister Margaret of Valois to the future Henry IV. N a s e l l i ' s o r i g i n a l H a r l e q u i n mask was made of waxed card- board and hid the whole face—it later became a half-leather mask. The diabolical grin on the face as he tumbles wildly across the stage suggests the origin of the name picked by Naselli. Dante h a d m e n t i o n e d t h e d e m o n A l i c h i n o i n t h r e e d i f f e r e n t Cantos of the Inferno. The word itself seems to be also related to Hellequin, an old French fiend. B u t A r l e c c h i n o i s a s o l a r Zanni, a valet buffoon with a sunny disposition, agile in the body but a bit slow of mind, always in trouble but stoic — his survival instinct is the strongest. I n 1 5 7 4 N a s e l l i m o v e d t o Spain where he earned a lot of money through his performances spanning 10 years. He had a huge impact upon the nascent Spanish theater—he was espe- cially influential on Lope De V e g a ' s p l a y s . D u r i n g t h a t decade, the Spanish theatre's a r c h i t e c t u r e w a s a l t e r e d t o accommodate such Italian plays, "Distinct comedies whose buf- foons excelled in mimicry," as Casiano Pellicer, a historian of Spanish theatre, wrote in 1802. " T h e I t a l i a n s i n t r o d u c e d Harlequin, Pantaloon and Doctor Balanzone, a loquacious carica- t u r e o f p e d a n t i c l e a r n i n g . " P e l l i c e r d e f i n e d t h e Bergamasque actor Naselli as an "author with brain." 18th-century France censored Arlecchino's street idiom filled with some obscene words, but his licentious talk never out- r a g e d t h e V e n e t i a n s . I n t h e Venice Lagoon, the guile-laden character was elevated from a secondary role to the main char- acter through Carlo Goldoni's plays. Giorgio Strehler's rein- vention of Goldoni's classic H a r l e q u i n , S e r v a n t t o T w o Masters, remains a hit show by Milan's Piccolo Theatre that continues to tour worldwide. T h e r o o m s o f P a l a z z o Grataroli are decorated with frescoes depicting the life and deeds of Alberto Naselli. One represents the very first concep- tion of Harlequin as a shaggy creature dressed in animal skins. He wields a club as a primitive h o u s e g u a r d i a n . T o d a y , t h e building houses a Museum of t h e C o m m e d i a d e l l ' A r t e , a restaurant and a vacation home. Harlequin held a strong fasci- nation for Pablo Picasso and was implicit in all of Chaplin's later comedies.Today, this solid clown continues to express the i n h e r e n t c o n t r a d i c t i o n s i n humanity. Anarchist and petty, servile and disrespectful, he is a faithful valet but always tries to trick his master. And because of all the trouble he creates, he ends up beaten. He is a tornado that subversively wreaks havoc on dull bourgeois society. "He is a servant who remains free," says Giorgio Pasotti, a Bergamasque actor who in 2005 directed a movie on Arlecchino called I, Harlequin. "The power- ful people cannot buy his soul or shut him up." MARIELLA RADAELLI San Giovanni Bianco, the Bergamasque home of irreverent Harlequin San Giovanni Bianco, birth place of Arlecchino, and various impersonations of the famous mask (Copyright: Archivio VisitBergamo) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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