Page "Pantalone" Paragraph 2

Commedia productions date back to Italy around the year 1560, making the origin for Pantalone's character quite difficult to determine.

The most common explanation for the name " Pantalone " comes from the Italian phrase pianta leone, translated as " plant the lion.

" The lion may, in fact, refer to the emblem of the Republic of Venice, and Venice's conquests around the globe where Venetians had literally " planted the lion " flag.

Another explanation is that the name comes from Saint Pantaleon ( in Italian Pantaleone ), a saint venerated in Venice.

Pantalone's character is always a Venetian old man, " a rich and almost miserly old merchant, always decrepit and stumbling.

" Pantalone is thought to be greatly based on the old Venetian merchants of the time, known for their stingy and less-than-pleasant personalities.