Acireale will dedicate two weekends to the Puppet Opera. On 7,8,9 and 14,15,16 June, the city will host the third edition of the Puppet Opera Festival. The program is full of shows and collateral events that will take place in the historic center.
Acireale / The popular origins of the Puppet Opera
Part of the popular tradition of Sicily, thePuppet Opera was included by UNESCO in the list of Oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2001. The origins of this form of popular theater date back to the eighteenth century. The stories are taken from epic-chivalrous literature of medieval origin, with particular reference to Carolingian cycle. The characters are inspired by a retelling of the History of the Paladins of France by Giusto Lodico. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, puppet theater spread to Naples and subsequently to Sicily. On the island, what until then were classic marionettes, acquire distinctive characteristics in terms of maneuver and clothing. The two main schools are those of Palermo and Catania, distinguished mainly by the size of the puppets.
Acireale / Emanuele Macrì, the great Acireale puppeteer
In Acireale, the first puppet school was founded in 1887 by Don Mariano Pennisi. His pupil and successor was the great Emanuele Macrì. The Acese school is inspired by and differs from the Catania one. The acetic puppets are smaller; they measure 120 cm and weigh 15/18 kg.
A preview of the show has already been presented on the occasion of the “Flower Festival”, attracting a large audience of children but also adults. The third edition of the Puppet Opera Festival will be dedicated in particular to the figure of Emanuele Macrì, an illustrious puppeteer from Acivia. 50 years after his passing, to him the theater in Via Alessi will be named. The naming ceremony will take place on day 7 at 7.30pm.
Acireale / The Puppet Opera Festival: a program full of events
The program includes numerous theatrical performances by the schools of Acireale, Catania, Paternò, Siracusa, Alcamo and Palermo. But it will not only be the shows that will attract the public, but also screenings, exhibitions and artisan workshops of master puppeteers.
Eugenia Castorina
