Sicilian Puppet

The Sicilian puppet theatre was born in the 19th century and tells about the knights’ deeds played by puppets from the French Royal family to Orlando Innamorato (Roland in Love) and Orlando Furioso (Furious Roland), from the wars against Spanish Moors to the Roncisvalle route.

The theatre equipment was and still is made up of puppets and placards of course but also of canvas paintings illustrating the deeds: every single placard was disassembled into several squares where the story ran; the placards were hung either in the theatre hall or in the nearby square like advertising posters. The public became very fond of the long deed cycle which, in the old drafts, was performed 371 times in a row.

Today the Puppet Theatre is best performed by the Associazione Figli d’Arte Cuticchio, founded by Giacomo Cuticchio, the pupil to the famous Achille Greco. He opened his first theatre in 1933, a travelling theatre from 1943 to 1969 when he settled in Palermo and opened the Super Teatro “Ippogrifo” situated in the city Quattro Canti. Today Mimmo Cuticchio is acknowledged as the one who continued, affirmed and relaunched the family tradition. In 1997 he started the first puppeteers and storytellers’ school. In 2001 the UNESCO conferred the “Verbal and Immaterial Patrimony of Mankind” recognition to the Puppet Theatre.