Tag: orlando furioso
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Artistry and Imagination in Palermo
We saw so much today! Palermo is bustling with new bars, cafès, and boutiques, it’s so exciting to be here. So much new, yes, but the traditional still tugs my heart–for example, the performance of the Opera dei Pupi we saw presented by the Argento Family. Wow! What fun to see Orlando and Rolando fighting…
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Clues for Watching l’Opera dei Pupi
Back before television was invented and became available in many households, in many of Sicily’s towns and certainly, in its larger cities, L’Opera dei Pupi, or marionette theater, was a major pastime for men and children of the popular classes. They loved to follow the trials and tribulations of their knightly heroes. A major character…
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Oh, Amore Mio! Tesore Mio!
Oh, Amore Mio! Tesore Mio! (Oh, my love! My treasure!) … Can’t you hear her say? Love is in the air and on Sicilian carts with their illustrations of chivalry from “Orlando furioso” and other stories of princesses and knights. Master cart painter Michele Ducato in Bagheria showed us this cart, almost completed, in his…
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500 Years of Orlando’s Adventures
500 years ago, Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), a poet from Reggio Emilia, a city in the region of Emilia-Romagna, published an epic poem titled “Orlando furioso.” Written in an archaic version of the Italian language (one that English speakers could compare to Chaucer), the poem chronicles the raging adventures and mishaps of the paladin (a…