Wide view of Venice: Piazza San Marco - Riva degli Schiavoni
Francesco Bertelli: "Francatripe Maschere, with his Lover"
Il Carnevale Italiano Mascherato - etching (1642)
Francesco Bertelli: "Francatripe mask, with his Lover"
Il Carnevale Italiano Mascherato - etching (1642)

The FRANCATRIPE mask

Francatripe (or Francatrippa, or Franca Trippa) is another of the Commedia dell'Arte secondary characters, and how we can see, he's basically another Zanni impersonation.

The name may come from "French Tripe" the idea of a French stomach used to being filled as much as possible.

Francatripe wears the same simple dress of a Zanni, with a little more awareness maybe, more like a Carnival mask than a servant.

He's got a lovely lady companion too, which is sort of uncommon for the low social standing of the typical Zanni, and she's dressed in sort of an Oriental way, possibly a Turkish dress.

In another version of this same image, there is some text added, that goes like this:

"Amor vuol ch’io vi ami e la Fortuna
Vuol, che ù adori, et adoro la Luna."

"If Love wants me to adore you and Chance
Wants me to worship you, I worship the Moon."


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