The "opera dei pupi"

One of the most famous and peculiar traditions of our beautiful land is the "opera dei pupi".

Nowadays these special puppets are famous all over the world telling us the adventurous stories and the exploits of king Arthur and the knights of France performed by a famous family called Napoli, whose brothers build these puppets (sculpturing some pieces of wood sewing dresses, capes and knitted skirts using beautiful and valuable cloth). The origin of pupi is uncertain.

At the end of 1700 in Naples and Palermo appeared the first puppets which were not yet the real pupi since they were rudimentary puppets built mainly of cardboard and tinfoil.

We have to wait the middle of 1800 to have the traditional pupi thanks to the skill and intuition of Sicilian artisans whose work of art transformed that rough piece of wood and cloth in a precious sculpture of wood, metal and cloth. The thread that commanded the right hand of the pupo was replaced by an iron , so that the pupo could move better, embrace a girl, fight. This evolution determined the making of more beautiful and refined pupi. For centuries pupi animatd by generations of pupari were the only source of education and one of the few opportunities for recreation and entertainment to the most humble classes; however, in the 19th century, the new middle class took an interest in what could be defined the memories of a nation and the opera dei pupi was seen not as a simple pasttime, but as something much more serious as Ettore Li Gotto writes: " the soul of pupi became the expression of feelings and aspirations for justice of a social class". Nowadays adults and children still remain impressed and astonished during the performances of the "opera dei pupi".


This wok has been written by Rosalia, Carmelo, Michael and Luca.