Orlando and Rolando, our heroes from the opera dei pupi theater, make an appearance off-stage, today, for the Day of the Dead, known in Sicilian as, un juornu re muorti; yet this time, as sugar dolls, or pupaccene, pictured. Pupaccene, which today are only made by a handful of artisans in Sicily, are traditionally produced…
Tag: orlando
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…
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…