The Origin of Punch and Judy: A New Clue?

The general opinion, voiced on instinct rather than conclusive evidence, has been that the Punch and Judy show came from Italy. The name Punch is clearly derived, via Punchinello (1667), Polichinello (1666), and Policinella (1664), from Pulcinella, the commedia dell'arte character who originated in Naples about 1600. Prints in abundance show a puppet performance, resembling Punch and Judy, in Naples, Rome and Venice in the eighteenth and the early years of the nineteenth century. And one of the earliest, and perhaps the earliest Punch performer on the streets of London was an Italian, Piccini by name, whose show was immortalized by George Cruikshank's drawings and, to a lesser extent, by Payne Collier's edited text in 1828.