Teatro dei Pupi

Opera dei Pupi (Puppet Theatre) is a traditional form of Sicilian entertainment, originating as far back as the 15th century, marionettes were a popular form of medieval entertainment.  Mostly, theatres produced tales relating to local legends and historical events, the most popular of these featured fictional heroes from the Norman conquests: Ruggiero defending the honour of his lover Bradamante, sister of Rinaldo, or Tancredi’s fight to death with the mighty Saracen Argante.  The pioneer of the puppet opera in Syracuse was Francesco Puzzo, who made the his first puppet in 1875.  He debuted his creation in a basement on the island of Ortygia.  Francesco ceased performing in 1917, but four years later his sons, led by Ernesto, revived the puppet theater.  In 1923, a young pastry chef by the name of Rossario Vaccaro (Saro) opened a shop across the street from the Puzzo brothers. The puppets intrigued Saro.  Despite the exclusionary tradition of the trade, he managed to gain acceptance and began studying under Ernesto, learning how to construct puppets and armor, paint scenery, write scripts, and produce the necessary advertise materials for shows.  Saro abandoned pastry and began building puppets in a small workshop on Ortigia.  In the 1970’s his brother, Alfredo, a talented papier-mâché craftsman and movie operator, joined the venture.  The Vaccaro brothers performed in the streets and squares, wherever they could attract a crowd, intent on reviving interest in the tradition of puppet opera.  Finally, in 1978, thirty years after the closing performance of Ernesto Puzzo, the Vaccaros staged a show at the church of San Giovannello, in the Jewish Quarter of Ortygia. Following its enormous success, the city donated space in an old convent in the historic center for a permanent Opra dei Pupi theater. Saro died in the spring of 1984 but Alfredo carried on until, in 1990, a severe earthquake damaged their theater beyond repair. Once again the puppets were without a home.  In their place, Alfredo crafted new papier-mâché creatures with rough features and cold glass eyes. Once again he turned to the streets, squares, and schools to perform, now accompanied by his grandson, Alfredo Mauler.  

His grandson Alfredo resurrected the puppets and converted a shop in the old Jewish Quarter into Teatro dei Pupi. The Puppet Museum, just down the street from the theater, is also run by the family, as is the workshop where Daniel creates all the puppets.  Alfredo Mauceri has written and produced 24 shows over the years for Teatro dei Pupi.  His mother Francesca Vaccaro, does all the female voices and his brother, Daniel, builds the puppets.  He writes the story and is a puppeteer during the show, along with Daniel and one other relative. Together, the three of them move the characters during the show, sometimes one in each hand.  His love of the puppets grew out of a strong bond with his grandfather, Alfredo Vaccaro.  As a young boy he had accompanied his grandfather when he staged puppet shows in the market square on Ortygia Island. Gradually, his grandfather allowed him to work with the characters.  Within three months he learned to move the puppets, but it took years to get the emotion and sensation of the characters. Below are more photos and a short trailer video of a performance unfortunately I was not filming for any of the decapitations, quite clever and requiring some coordination between puppeteers.

The theater is located on Via Della Giudecca 17/19, in the Old City, located on Ortygia Island. Two shows are performed daily, from March to November. As the theater is quite small, seating no more than 20, reservations are strongly recommended. Call 0931 465540, or stop by between the hours of 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Their website http://www.pupari.com is only in Italian.  All the plays are traditional stories adapted and written by the Vaccaro-Mauceri family and performed in Italian with a few lines of Sicilian dialect added for good measure.  Each performance lasts for approximately 30 minutes, making them suitable for children to enjoy.  At the bottom of this post are three professional videos of the teatro, museo, and include interviews with Alfredo Mauler.