L’anti-cristiana. Sulle attrici professioniste della prima età moderna

The profession of the commedia dell'arte actress acquires a markedly visible position in the broad public horizon of Modern-Age Italy. The actress, in that context, places herself both at the borders of the male amateur theatre practices and amongst the virtuous feminine models (bus, wives, virgins), conflicting with both. These counts-positios must have been very visible, particularly to the spectators, who could easily draw comparisons both with the amateur shows, where only male actors played, and with different kinds of feminine characters. These contrasts are explored in this article using moral essays of the time, including the equivalence between actress and prostitute put forward by a lengthly treatise in 1646 by G.D. Ottonelli.