This fresco was in the Pulcinella Room of the family villa at Zianigo.
Pulcinella is a classical character that originated in the commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry. A plausible theory derives his name from the diminutive of Italian pulcino ('chick'), on account a long beaklike nose.
In the scenes with Pulcinella, he is a symbol of that part of humanity that still retains a primordial, spontaneous will to survive in the face of a society in rapid dissolution.
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