Innamorati

The Innamorati (from the Italian innamorato, lover, the one who is in love) are young lovers, characters of the Commedia dell'arte.

The characters are composed of generous portions of lust, romance, vanity, and poetry, and very little sense. The lovers come in obvious pairs who, through much trial and tribulation, are united at the end of the play.

In larger troupes there may be multiple pairs of lovers which must be untangled by the action of the plot. One device to make sure that nobody could miss who belonged with whom was to dress each pair of lovers in similar colors and/or to name them with masculine and feminine versions of the same name such as Flavio and Flavia or Ottavio and Ottavia.

The innamorati typically wore no masks and were dressed in the latest fashions unless the scenario forbade it. They were often called upon to sing, play an instrument, or recite poetry with some skill.

Comic effect could be achieved by the action of zanni or careful composition of the piece to portray a comically bad performance.