Pupi Salamanca ... the Master Puppet Maker

Sicily is an island full of much history, culture, folklore and traditions.

Puppet theatres (teatro dei pupi) have been popular in Sicily since the fourteenth century but really became popular in the 1800's and provided nightly entertainment for thousands of Sicilians who would watch the good guys fight the bad guys in stories of adventure and romance. Travelling puppet theatres drew huge crowds in smaller villages.

The art of the Sicilian puppet theatres has been given recognition by UNESCO in 2001 when it was included in the Representation List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The most traditional stories are derived from the stories of the Holy Emperor Charlemagne and his Paladin Knights battle for Christianity against the Saracens and Turks involving raucous sword fights.

Other stories include the lives of Saints, legends of bandits, local farces and even Shakespearian themes and there is always a love interest.

So who are the good guys? Holy Emperor Charlemagne and his Paladin Knights are dressed in armour and brightly coloured clothes. Orlando is the mighty and loyal leader of the Paladins, In Catania he is dressed in red and carries a shield with a eagle. His cousin Rinaldo is a brave fighter with a weakness for the ladies, he is dressed in green with a lion on his shield. In Palermo it is opposite Orlando is in green and Rinaldo is in red. Beautiful Angelica is the object of the two men's affections and drives Orlando out of his mind with passion. Then there is Rinaldo's sister Bradamante, a long blonde haired warrior.

And who are the bad guys? Mostly evil Saracens and Turks, they wear baggy trousers and have droopy moustaches and have shields with a crescent moon. Charlemagne's brother-in-law and arch enemy Gano di Magonza often tries to overthrow the crown. The sorcerer Malaggi plays both sides, sometimes helping and sometimes hurting the Paladins cause. Other characters include crocodiles and monsters who brave Orlando gets involved with in fights.

When we first bought our Sicilian home one of my first purchases were the puppets Rinaldo and Angelica who now happily live together hung above our bed, my husband initially had visions of them coming alive at night wielding their little swords at him.

Earlier this year I received a lovely email from Stephanie at Pupi Salamanca saying that the Maestro Puparo (master puppet maker) Francesco Salamanca was coming to London exhibiting at Pop Up Market Sicily, held annually in London, and asked if it would be possible to bring his puppets along to an event that I was organising that was being held at a Sicilian restaurant in London.

During our correspondence Stephanie invited me to visit the Pupi Salamanca workshop near Catania to meet Francesco and his beautiful puppets. Therefore last month we set off for Catania with our dog Daisy and our English friend Teresa who lives in our town.

Francesco Salamanca was born in Catania in 1955. At thirteen years old, Francesco decided to devote all his extra time making Sicilian puppets. It was the puppeteer Emilio Musumeci who welcomed him into his laboratory and taught Francesco the techniques of construction whilst telling him the stories of the Paladin Knights. In August 2011, Francesco won the 'Knight Award Isidoro Platania' in recognition for his wonderful and passionate career as a Master Craftsman.

On arrival at his workshop we were greeted by Stephanie and her husband Simone, who is Francesco's son, Francesco and his wife Angioletta.

Entering the workshop we were surrounded by puppets of every kind and size and on a work table lay a puppet that was over 50 years old that had come in for restoration to bring him back to his former beauty. Restoration is also a large part of Francesco's art.

Stephanie and Simone explained that Francesco constructs and makes the puppets and their armour and his wife makes the puppets clothes and paints their facial features in the same traditional way the art has always been done. The body is made with a hard wood so that the puppet can withstand all the action on stage and the head is made using a softer wood making it easy to sculpt the facial features.

A template is used to cut metal for armour and much to our joy Francesco announced that he would demonstrate to us how he creates the armour. He explained that as a child growing up being one of six children there was no money spare to spend on buying metal for his creations so he improvised by cutting out used tins of tomatoes and banging them out flat to create the armour.

Francesco sat and placed a template of metal onto his work bench pinning it down onto a well used iron plate to keep it in place and then with a hammer and some tools began to beat intricate designs and shapes into the metal. He explained that the small tools he uses to create the different curves and edgings have all been created by himself using everyday metal objects such as water pipes and parts from car engines. It was obvious watching Francesco work that each puppet is made with a lot of love and passion.

The puppets are made in several sizes ranging from 28cm high, 55cm, 80cm and right up to a collection of 65 puppets 110cm high which were constructed for a project by Francesco's other son Emanuele creating them for the cruise ship "Costa Magica" one of the Costa Cruise liners.

Francesco often takes part in numerous craft fairs throughout Sicily and mainland Italy and on our visit the family were getting ready for the annual Ottobrata Feste which is held every Sunday throughout October in the Mount Etna town of Zafferana Etnea.

After our delightful visit and an impromptu demonstration by Simone showing us how the puppets move it was soon time to go home and one lucky little Catanese Pupi (he has an elephant on his shield, the symbol of Catania) got to go home with Teresa. We left Pupi Salamanca knowing that as is always the Sicilian way we had made new friends for life.

Francesco Salamanca is a true master craftsman and I do hope that this amazing craft never dies out.

A big thank you to Francesco and his wonderful family and puppets.

A visit to Pupi Salamanca workshop is a perfect addition your Sicilian trip
and is ideal for any age group.

For more information visit www.pupisalamanca.com

or email info@pupisalamanca.com

Photo Gallery

Our visit to Pupi Salamanca Workshop