Tartaglia (commedia dell'arte)
Tartaglia is a dainty character in the Commedia dell'arte. He is farsighted and with a minor stutter (hence his name; cf. Spanish tartamudear), he is usually classed as one of the group of old characters (vecchio) who appears in many scenarios as one of the lovers (innamorati). His social status varies; he is sometimes a bailiff, lawyer, notary or chemist. Dramatist Carlo Gozzi turned him into a statesman, and so he remained thereafter. Tartaglia wears a large felt hat, an enormous cloak, oversized boots, a long sword, a giant moustache and a cardboard nose. He usually represents the lower working class but at times the middle or upper class in the commedia dell'arte.
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Other fictional characters named Tartaglia
In the opera Le maschere by Mascagni, one of the characters is Tartaglia, a stuttering servant.
There is a voluble Sgt. Gino Tartaglia, played by Charles Calvert, in the radio crime drama Broadway Is My Beat.
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