In fact, the iron rods, unlike the wires, make the movements much faster and more violent, to better simulate battles.
The term “mafioso”, according to the anthropologist Giuseppe Pitrè, initially had a positive connotation and indicated a “handsome young man”. “The mafioso” was also the nickname of the Sicilian puppet character “Rinaldo”.
The puppeteers were illiterate for a long time. The narrative details of the poems of the Carolingian cycle were then passed down orally and entrusted to the memory of each puppeteer.
These artists who made Sicily’s name great in the world knew immortal works such as “L’Orlando Furioso” by Ludovico Ariosto by heart, not to mention the “Chanson de Roland”.
The Sicilian marionette has a great peculiarity that distinguishes it from its cousins around the world: the metal rods that allow you to manoeuvre the head and the right arm that holds the sword.
