Niccolò (or Nicolò) Barbieri (

Vercelli Vercelli (; ) is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around 600 BC. ...

, 1586–1641) was an Italian writer and actor of the ''

commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...

'' theatrical genre. He was also known as Beltrame di Milano ("Beltrame of Milan") in reference to one of his most popular characters, Beltrame; this was the main character of one of Barbieri's best known plays, '' L'inavertito'', which is known to have inspired

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''

L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps ''L’Étourdi ou les Contretemps'' (''The Blunderer, or the Counterplots''), also known in English as ''The Bungler'', is a five-act theatrical comedy by the French playwright Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) &n ...

'' ("The Blunderer"). Besides popularizing Beltrame, Barbieri is also credited with creating another ''commedia dell'arte'' mask,

Scapino {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2024 Scapino or Scapin is a Zanni character from the commedia dell'arte. His name is related to the Italian language, Italian word ''scappare'' ('to escape') and his name translates to 'little escape artist', in ref ...

.
Niccolò Barbieri
' Barbieri was a successful author and actor, and one of those that toured Europe; he is known, for example, to have played at the royal court of France. Besides plays, he wrote essays on theatre; his prominent essay is '' La supplica. Discorso famigliare a quelli che trattano de' comici'' (1634), a passionate apology of theatre and actors, (in Italian) which is also an important source of information on the ''commedia'' culture.
Beltrame
' (in Italian) As a ''commedia'' actor, Barbieri introduced the habit of acting while standing on a chair, which is supposedly the origin of the Italian word ''saltimbanco'' (which roughly translates to "s.o. who jumps on chairs") to refer to comic actors and jesters.
Beltramm de Gaggian
'

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri Commedia dell'arte actors People from the Savoyard state 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century Italian male writers People from Vercelli Male actors from Piedmont 1586 births 1641 deaths 17th-century Italian male actors