Come to Sicily without watching a puppet show and lose! Puppet theatre is the puppet theatre status of the Muppet Troupe of the Italian National Art Of the Sicilian Puppet Theatre of the Culdiquiao Artistic Descendants Theatre of Vacarlo Maucelli

When we talk about Palermo, we mention that when we come to Palermo, we must go to a puppet show.

And in the Sicily tourism advertising, there is a very eye-catching slogan: "Go to Sicily, you can't miss the puppet show." ”

What kind of charm does a Sicily puppet show have?

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="9" > Sicilian puppet show</h1>

Sicilian puppet theatre arose in the early 19th century and was known as "pupi".

Puppet theater was a great success in the civilian hierarchy of the time, and until the 1950s, puppet theater was popular in Italy.

The stories of puppet shows are generally inspired by medieval chivalric literature, Renaissance Italian poetry, and the lives of saints or thieves.

In addition to performing stories of these historical themes, they also improvise performances, and even the dialogue is improvised, inspired by poetry, romantic legends, popular operas, and everyday life.

There are two main genres of Sicilian puppet theatre: palermo and catania. It is mainly different from the size and shape of the puppet, the operation technique and the stage set.

Puppet theatre is generally run as a family troupe, allowing the skills of puppet theatre to be passed on from generation to generation within the family.

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="123" > puppet troupe</h1>

In Sicily, there are more than thirty family puppet troupes that have been passed down for a hundred years, but with the passage of time, entertainment methods have increased day by day, and there are currently only three small family puppet troupes left, and cuticchio is one of the remaining troupes.

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="124" > The Curdicchio Art Descendants Theater</h1>

In 1977, Mimo Kudikio, the most important heir to traditional street art and Sicilian puppet art, founded the Kudikio Art Descendants Theatre Company, which brought the rap art in the square to the stage in the form of puppets and presented it to the audience.

The Kudikio Artistic Descendants Theatre is on the via Barra Oliveira in the center of Palermo, with a façade that resembles a small coffee shop, and outside, it is not at all obvious that this is a theater.

When I walked in, I found that the theater was very "mini", about sixty or seventy square meters, rectangular, with a long bench for only forty or fifty people, and some brightly colored ornaments were pasted on the walls on both sides of the theater.

Inside the theater

In front of the first row of the auditorium is a hand-cranked organ that has been subjected to many vicissitudes, which is the source of all musical sound.

In Don Giovanni in a Puppet Show, Mimo Cudikio enriches the description of the opera Don Giovanni with his puppets, and the life of the Earl of The Flower Heart is full of adventures, accompanied by the music of Mozart composed by Lorenzo da Ponte, which is a model puppet show that combines outstanding music with character drama.

Moreover, the stage lighting and set are also very exquisite, and the puppet costumes are exquisitely crafted and colorful, and the soft lines are tied to the joints, and the movements are natural and smooth.

In Sicily, in addition to the traditional small theater of family puppets, there are also theaters specializing in puppet performances.

Puppet theater

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="125" > vacaro Maučelli's puppet house</h1>

In Syracuse, in the southeastern corner of Sicily, on Giudecca Street, not far from the main church square, there is a puppet house called La Compagnia dei Pupi Vaccaro-Mauceri.

Many tourists and local residents flock to the Teatro dei pupi to watch puppet shows. The puppet theater is built in a traditional style, providing an elegant and comfortable viewing environment for the audience.

During the season, you can purchase tickets online to watch the show.

Angelica arrives in Paris

Rinaldo's revenge

The love of Fiodi Liji and Brandimatt

In addition to regular puppet shows, there is also a puppet museum and a puppet studio, which houses and displays a variety of Sicilian puppets, muppets, puppet show stage props, tools, etc., where you can find everything you want about Sicilian puppet shows.

Founded in 1978 by the Ma'ucheli brothers, the House of Puppets' insistence on the art of family heritage allows visitors to learn about the past and present lives of this sicilian cultural gem.

Puppet theatre is prevalent not only in Sicily, but also in other parts of Italy.

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="126" > the Carllo Cora Family Puppet Troupe</h1>

Also with a craftsman's spirit is the Carló Cora Family Puppet Company, one of the oldest puppet troupes in Italy. Founded in 1835, the troupe's first performances date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Carllo Cora Family Puppet Troupe has always been exquisite and evocative in its puppet workmanship, the stage set is fascinating, and the storyline twists and turns to impress the audience.

And all the puppets are made by the actors themselves, and the production of each play takes a year or more to complete.

At present, there are more than 2,000 puppets in the troupe, of which 800 have a history of more than 100 years.

The troupe can stage more than 300 plays in a variety of forms, from classical operas such as Aida, Nabuco, Troubadour to dance, from classical and modern novels such as "The Promised Couple" and "Around the World in Eighty Days" to fairy tales such as Cinderella and Aladdin's Lamp.

Their traditional plays such as "The Four Musketeers," "Columbus," "The Cat in Boots," "Cinderella," and "Little Orphan Girl Under the Stars" swept Italy and europe in that era.

In the reserved repertoire of the Karlo Cora Family Puppet Troupe, opera has been the material for the creation of large puppet plays.

Aida is a special creation of the Cora Family Puppet Theatre to commemorate the centenary of the death of the famous Italian opera composer Verdi, and has become one of the representative works of the troupe.

Aida

Aida reinterprets the world-famous opera with 200 puppets and seven stage curtains set against the backdrops of the king's palace to the banks of the Nile.

In addition to the puppets, there are many animal figures in the play. Each puppet's hair is real and the eyes are made of glass, which is very realistic.

In terms of plot, the director completely subverts the ending of the story, allowing the temple to collapse at the end, allowing Radams and Aida to escape to the "fragrant forest". Colorful puppets, skilled maneuvers, vertiginous rhythms and powerful stage effects.

<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="127" > the current status of puppet shows</h1>

Fewer and fewer people are now choosing to study puppet theatre, a traditional culture that has shown a declining trend.

In order to preserve traditional culture and to continue and preserve this ancient form of theatrical performance, in 2001 UNESCO inscribed Sicilian puppet theatre on the List of Representative Works of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The United Nations Commission on the Protection of Heritage has also developed a corresponding protection plan, including the establishment of training schools for young puppet artists, the organization of sicilian puppet festivals and awards, the holding of domestic and foreign exhibitions, and the establishment of puppet show schools.

Puppet Museum