Gualberto Niemen (Tronzano Vercellese, 6 August 1905 - Biandoronno, 19 August 2003) belonged to a family of travelling artists, linked for generations to the circus arts. Passionate about puppetry from an early age, he often went to see shows at the Teatro Gianduja in Turin, where he watched performances by the Fratelli Lupi. During the First World War, he lived with his stepmother Anita Tonini in a camp near Turin. There he saw the puppeteer Giacomo Canardi, who, wearing his Gianduja mask, staged La iena di San Giorgio (The Hyena of St. George). The show, based on a popular legend about a murderous butcher, later became one of the most performed and well-known in Gualberto Niemen's repertoire. After the war, Niemen bought some stick puppets and built his own theatre. His first show was Il nuovo Caino (The New Cain), performed in August 1921. He met several puppeteers and marionette artists such as the Marengos, the Burzios, the Gambaruttis, Ferdinando Garda and the Concordias. Niemen's repertoire included classics of animated theatre alongside original productions such as La storia della vaca rusa (The Story of the Russian Cow) with Gianduja, the guardian of the cemetery of Constantinople. He also invented several new characters: Testafina, Battista Diareja and Capitan Bobò.