L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE Hotel de France. Its collec- tion spans three floors. There are water puppets from Viet- nam, shadow puppets from China and Indonesia, Japan- ese Bunraku puppets, African puppets, and marionettes from India. Some puppets resemble movie stars like Laurel and Hardy, while others were cobbled together by contem- p o r a r y a r t i s t s w h o u s e d everyday items such as bottle b r u s h e s , m o p h e a d s a n d swim goggles to create dis- tinctive figures. In 2017, the museum was selected Italy's museum of the year. From the beginning, con- serving and safeguarding the collection was paired with a strong educational mission. This has evolved into the which ran through a joint to the puppet's head. More wire was used to move the legs and arms. When the craft arrived in Sicily, the con- struction technique changed. The thin wire once used to m o v e t h e r i g h t a r m w a s replaced by a large metal rod — a fundamental characteris- tic of the Sicilian puppet. This structure created more r e a l i s t i c m o v e m e n t s a n d a l l o w e d t h e p u p p e t e e r t o move the figure faster — bet- ter suited to duels and battle scenes. This construction form is still used today. The International Puppet Museum, located at Piazzetta Pasqualino, a small square n a m e d f o r t h e m u s e u m ' s founder, occupies an historic building that once housed the annual Morgana Festival, held this year from Novem- ber 8-23 in Palermo. The fes- tival, now in its 49 th year, attracts traditional and con- temporary puppet companies from Italy and around the w o r l d w h o p a r t i c i p a t e i n exhibitions, conferences and educational workshops. One of the highlights of a museum visit is to attend a puppet show, held frequently throughout the week. The 40-minute performance dra- matizes popular stories root- ed in the Middle Ages and featuring well-known charac- ters such as brave Orlando, a h a n d s o m e a n d v a l i a n t knight; beautiful and pure A n g e l i c a , t h e b e l o v e d o f Orlando; and Rinaldo, Orlan- do's cousin who falls in love with Angelica. During our visit in Octo- ber, the performance was col- orful, exciting and beautifully produced. There were plenty of duels, armed battles, some dismembering of limbs, and even a beheading. Two pup- pet masters played all the roles, accompanied by a live pianist. Before the produc- tion started, the cast com- mandeered the support of several children in the audi- ence, asking them to shriek or beg for help when prompt- ed, which they did at full vol- ume. To keep the art form rele- v a n t , t h e m u s e u m h a s worked with contemporary writers such as Italo Calvino to produce new plays, and h a s c o m m i s s i o n e d v i s u a l artists such as Tadeusz Kan- tor to create new set designs and puppets. A library of about 7,000 volumes on pup- petry and folk traditions is on site as is a multimedia collec- tion of photos, videos and sound recordings highlight- ing puppet traditions from around the world. There is also a small gift shop. If your travels take you to the eastern side of the island, check out the puppet theaters i n S i r a c u s a a n d C a t a n i a . Catania's puppet theater, known as the Teatro dei Pupi Fratelli Napoli, is named for a famous puppeteering fami- ly. Siracusa's theater, Opera dei Pupi, is on the tourist- friendly island of Ortigia. No knowledge of Italian is need- ed; the show's story line is always easy to follow. era in early 20 th century Sicily where it flourished on both ends of the island — Catania and Palermo. The simplicity and drama of pup- p e t r y r e s o n a t e d w i t h t h e rural and often uneducated audiences. O f t e n i l l i t e r a t e t h e m - selves, puppeteers would memorize and then adapt heroic poems, such as the Song of Roland, stories full of knights, kings, Moors and other characters fighting for glory, country, religion and, of course, love. The puppet masters would improvise the dialogue, act out numerous roles, both male and female, and manipulate the puppets' movements. E a r l y p u p p e t s m o v e d because of a thin metal rod S ometimes gritty, o f t e n e x o t i c , always exciting, Palermo is home to some of Italy's m o s t b e a u t i f u l c h u r c h e s , ornate palaces and delicious foods. The intensity of the capital city is without equal in all of Sicily. If you're looking for yet another way to experience Palermo, consider the art of puppetry. Palermo offers visitors not only traditional puppet theater but also exhi- bitions and displays of pup- pets from Sicily, Italy and around the world. The best place to start is the Antonio Pasqualino I n t e r n a t i o n a l P u p p e t M u s e u m , e s t a b l i s h e d i n 1975. This museum has more t h a n 5 , 0 0 0 m a r i o n e t t e s , hand puppets, shadow pup- pets, historic playbills and set designs in its collection. T h e s o n o f a n a r t i s t , Pasqualino, a Palermo physi- cian and surgeon, realized t h a t h i s i s l a n d w a s b e i n g transformed by social and economic upheaval, which would impact the traditional arts, including puppetry. Pro- fessional puppeteers were leaving the craft in search of more profitable careers, and P a s q u a l i n o w o r r i e d t h i s vibrant art form was headed for oblivion. Together with his wife, he dedicated himself to saving Sicilian puppetry, collecting everything he could from h a n d p u p p e t s a n d m a r i - onettes to stage scripts and set furnishings. His efforts h e l p e d s a v e h u n d r e d s o f items from destruction. I n 1 9 6 5 , P a s q u a l i n o founded the Association for the Conservation of P o p u l a r T r a d i t i o n s . A decade later, the association established the International P u p p e t M u s e u m . W h e n Pasqualino died in 1995, the museum was renamed in his honor. Pasqualino's work, along with that of others, led to a 2005 UNESCO designa- tion that recognized puppetry to be part of Italy's "intangi- ble cultural heritage." Italian puppetry began in Naples and then spread to Sicily at the end of the 19 th century. It reached its golden Palermo's International Puppet Museum has more than 5,000 items on display, including dioramas featuring traditional Sicilian marionettes (Photo: Rita Cipalla) In Sicily, puppetry is not just child's play RITA CIPALLA In a small on-site theater, two puppeteers take a bow following a lively performance (Photo: Dale Smith)

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