The repertory of Sicilian puppet theater consists of medieval and Renaissance chivalric narratives that were adapted into prose in the nineteenth century. Giusto Lo Dico’s Storia dei paladini di Francia (1858–60), a prose compilation of over 3000 pages, provided an uninterrupted narrative stretching from before the birth of Orlando to after the battle of Roncevaux. In 1895–1896, Giuseppe Leggio extended Lo Dico’s popular work by adding even more episodes. This expanded Storia dei paladini, reprinted several times in the early 1900s, follows Christian and Saracen knights across three centuries of romance epic, including Andrea da Barberino’s Reali di Francia and Aspramonte, Tasso’s Rinaldo, Cieco da Ferrara’s Mambriano, Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato, Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and Cinque canti, Francesco Brusantino’s Angelica innamorata, and Pulci’s Morgante maggiore.

Although puppeteers still primarily use La storia dei paladini as the basis of their chivalric plays, some have also returned to the original poems. The three most popular episodes performed today are the battle between Rinaldo and Orlando for Angelica (from Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato), the madness of Orlando (from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso), and the battle of Roncisvalle (from Pulci’s Morgante Maggiore and other versions of the story). Many Sicilian puppet theater companies and museums have their own websites and/or Facebook pages:

Palermo
Associazione Figli D’Arte Cuticchio
Compagnia Carlo Magno di Enzo Mancuso
Associazione Culturale Agramante di Vincenzo Argento e Figli
Puparo Franco Cuticchio
L’opera dei pupi di Vincenzo Garifo
Compagnia Gaspare Canino di Salvatore Oliveri
I pupi di Nino Canino
Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino

Catania
Marionettistica Fratelli Napoli
Museo di pupi siciliani, Randazzo

Siracusa
Associazione La Compagnia dei pupari Vaccaro-Mauceri (also www.teatrodeipupisiracusa.it)