Sicilian Puppet Theatre

The pupi are large marionettes in hammered metal armour, worked from above on iron rods rather than strings, which lets the puppeteer move them quickly and with weight. The repertoire comes from the Carolingian romances, cycles of chivalric stories that once ran for months of nightly episodes when this was the ordinary evening entertainment of Sicilian towns. Palermo and Catania developed different traditions: the Palermo puppets are smaller with jointed knees, Catania's are taller and heavier with rigid legs. The form very nearly died out in the 1960s and survives through a handful of families, which is why UNESCO listed it. Palermo has a museum with puppets from across the Mediterranean.

What you actually see

• The armour - hammered brass and copper, made in the same workshops as the puppets.
• The rod technique - worked from above on iron rods, not strings.
• The two schools - smaller jointed Palermo puppets, heavier rigid Catania ones.
• The puppet museum - Palermo's collection, with figures from across the Mediterranean.

When to go

Performances run all year, with more of them through the summer. Evening shows are the traditional ones; daytime shows are shortened for visitors and are what most people see. Book directly with the theatre rather than through a hotel desk. Allow an hour for a short show and rather longer for a full episode.

Honest expectations

Most performances aimed at visitors run about forty minutes and are cut down heavily from the real thing. The dialogue is in Sicilian and is not translated, so the plot is largely guesswork unless you read up beforehand. Seating is wooden benches. A few venues are frankly tourist operations trading on the name.

Nearby

Palermo's markets are minutes from the old-town theatres; Catania's are on the other coast.