Puppets! Museum and Theatre

Tuesday March 8 was a bit cooler, but the sun was out for most of the day.  High of only 13C.  Comme habitude, we headed to the market.  At the back of one of the fish stores, someone was videoing two guys playing a tambourine and a guitar. Everyone gathered to listen and take a photo.

Music with your fish

We wanted to visit the Caravaggio in the church near the Duomo.  We walked by Caffe Marciante, our favourite place to buy wonderful almond cookies-- pistachio, mandarin and lemon are our favourites.

Delicious almond cookies

Chiesa di Santa Lucia alla Badia, is dedicated to Santa Lucia (St. Lucy) the city's patron saint.  It houses a Caravaggio painting dated 1609.

Caravaggio escaped prison in Malta in 1608 and fled to Siracusa.  He was commissioned to do a painting dedicated to Santa Lucia (St. Lucy).  The Burial of Santa Lucia, finished in 1609, showed St. Lucy killed with a dagger, about to be buried, with gravediggers in the foreground.  It was an interesting picture, with Caravaggio's masterful use of light on display.

Caravaggio- The Burial of Santa Lucia 1609

More detailed picture from Internet

 After our visit, we continued our walk along the sea.  We never get tired of the beautiful vistas and the sense of history in Siracusa.

View from on high

Fort on the sea

We walked to the Fontana Aretusa, where fresh water has been bubbling up since ancient times, when it was the city's main water supply.  The fountain is full of papyrus plants.  Legend has it that Artemis, the goddess of hunting transformed her beautiful handmaiden Aretusa into the spring to protect her from the unwelcome attention of the river god Alpheus.

Fontana Aretusa

We passed one lone fisherman trying his luck.

A lone fisherman

Alonso by the sea

We had tickets to this season's opening show of the Puppet Theatre.  It is a 45 minute performance which starts at 5:30 p.m.  However, we first planned a late afternoon visit to the Museo dei Pupi (Puppet Museum), the first single themed museum about puppets.  It is run by the Vaccaro -Mauceri Association, the names of the two families linked to the tradition of puppeteers in Siracusa.  

Puppet theatre started in Siracusa in the late 1880s.  It has a long history in Sicily.  In 1978, Rosario and Alfredo Vaccaro revived the puppet theatre in Siracusa.  Rosario died in 1984 and Alfredo in 1995.  The Mauceri brothers, Alfredo and Daniel, took over the operation and today manage the Puppet Theatre.  Daniel's workshop is just a few doors away from the theatre.  In 2001, UNESCO declared the Sicilian Opera dei Pupi (Puppet Theatre) to be an "oral and intangible Heritage of Humanity".

Outside of Museo dei Pupi

The Museum had a wonderful display of puppets and the history of the Vaccaro and Mauceri family involvement.  The puppets were beautifully displayed.  It was well worth the visit.

An early pinocchio

Wonderful puppets on display-- I've always been partial to Pierrot

Many of the characters are warriors from Charlemagne's court

The puppets with their swords and shields

A beautiful woman

The backdrop screens are beautifully painted.  The museum has the backdrop from the days the Vaccaros ran the puppet theatre.

Backdrop

There was one room dedicated to the Vaccaros workshop.  

Workshop

Puppets hanging from the ceiling in the workshop

We were still a bit early for the puppet show, so we took some pictures outside the building where the puppets are made.  It was closed.

Looking into the puppet workshop

Outside of the puppet workshop

We got to the Puppet Theatre just after 5:00 p.m.  There was some discussion as to whether the show would go ahead as there were only a few of us in attendance.  However, at about 5:20, an Italian family with four young children and a number of other tourists came.  We numbered about 14, so the show must go on!  The theatre is in a very small room and probably only seats about 30 people.

The curtain closed before the show

We were handed a synopsis of "The Flight of Angelica" in English to read before the show commenced.  There were many characters- but it is largely a tale of love, loss and many duels between Charlemagne's forces and his allies the Spanish, and a fierce Saracen (Muslim), called Gradasso.  The music and sets were wonderful and the action was relatively easy to follow.  Lots of bodies piled up.  In the last scene, Gradasso and Rinaldo, the brave knight fighting for Charlemagne, defer victory to the outcome of the duel the next day without shedding more blood.

Angelica and two of her suitors in front of the magic spring of Merlin

               Plotting for the battle

Piles of bodies remained after the fight

After the puppet show, we headed back to the apartment.  When we arrived, the internet was working again!  Hurray!   After a rest, we went for dinner at Dioniso, a restaurant recommended by friends in Toronto who had been there last month.  Fortuitously, it was just down the street from our apartment.

The owner greeted us warmly and then introduced us to his son, who is the Chef.  The Chef trained in Turin.  The owner reviewed the menu with us.  We decided to share an appetizer of an artichoke stuffed with pecorino cheese; a risotto with squid; and a fish cooked in salt.  Alonso had a panna cotta for dessert.  It was a lovely meal.  The owner chatted with us throughout.

Alonso pre-meal

Chef, who studied in Turin and is the son of the owner in font of small open kitchen

Artichoke stuffed with pecorino cheese-- delicious

We shared risotto with squid- excellent (half a portion is very large)

Alonso and his panna cotta

Cheers!

It was quite chilly when we left the restaurant, but luckily we are only a half block away.  We really enjoyed our day with the Puppets of Siracusa.