Don Peppino u Francofontese

Don Peppino from Francofonte (a town famous for its oranges), with his cart pulled by a mule, and with the sides painted with the scenes of the Opera of the Puppets, leaves in the morning at dawn and goes to sell oranges up to Catania! A common story, especially in the past (but also today) to the whole island: it was oranges, or coal, or ice, or zucchini … U carrettu siciliano  was the means of transport par excellence in the past centuries of the Sicilian people: both rich and poor. Basically it is a sort of wooden wheelbarrow pulled by horses. The peculiarity of the Sicilian cart was given by the sides of this structure, the sides, in which was almost always represented a scene of the Opera of the  Puppets, representation of Sicilian puppets extremely popular since the seventeenth century (the cart itself was born around that time). Also, the cart was often very colorful in all its spaces, whether it was wheels, lateral woods, rods, etc.. Even the horse that pulled it, usually festive, was harnessed with bright colors. Needless to say, its more or less artistic opulence marked its social status.

(photo) Sicilian fruitseller, 1970