Orlando

Orlando is one of the characters of the Sicilian Opera of the puppets , a theatrical representation in which skilled puppeteers moved the puppets (pupi in Sicilian) retracing the deeds of the paladins at the court of Charlemagne, indeed. The good ones were the twelve paladins among whom stood out the cousins Orlando and Rinaldo (both in love with Angelica); and the bad guys were the Saracens. The Opera of the Puppets has made the joy of the people since 1700, when the puppeteer and his traveling theater were expected in the squares of the villages of Sicily. To this day it remains a really exciting and fun moment to watch the exploits of these wooden puppets to which the puppeteers give life and character by acting and, at the same time, moving them from behind the scenes, while often a piano is the soundtrack to the whole thing. It should be noted that when the puppet theater withdrew from a village, the elders continued to tell the exploits of the paladins, sometimes even adding more to the story, around the conca (brazier for heating) or in the square, with friends and relatives. Orlando, in love with the beautiful Angelica as much as his cousin Rinaldo, was the most loved by the picciriddi (children in sicilian) and by adults. His horse was Vegliantino and his destructible sword was the Durlindana with which both went to the attack to the cry “Death to the Saracens!” (while the puppeteer shouted and violently stamped his feet on the ground to create the din of the fight).

(photo) A peasant family is stretching a sheet under a tree for the picking of fruits, 1928