The narrator establishes an ideal link with the figure of Don Quixote: like Cervantes' hero, he is a middle-aged man who has lost his mind in books, and who now identifies himself with the stories of the Paladins of France. So he begins to tell his ideal lady, Dulcinea del Toboso, the story of Roland. Peace reigns in Charlemagne's kingdom, until the beautiful princess Angelica arrives at his court: the paladin who manages to defeat her brother Argalia in a duel will get her in hand in marriage. During the duel, the paladin Ferraù hits him in the back, violating the rules, and flees. Angelica got lost in the Ardennes forest while trying to return to her homeland, and all the paladins, who are madly in love with her, go looking for her. The kingdom was thus deprived of its heroes, and Marsilio, King of Spain, took advantage of this to invade France. While inside the court, Gano di Magonza hatches a plot against Charlemagne, Ferraù tries to unmask him and save the kingdom. The Paladins, united under Roland’s leadership, decide to confront Marsilio's entire Spanish army on their own, without calling on the French troops, and thus they all perish.

Not specified

Niccolini Francesco

Italy

Portugal

Porto

Printed

Song of Roland

Knighthood

Love

Unrequited love

Murder

Battle

Duel

Princess

Spell

Epic

Italian

Avventure d'Orlando e d'altri paladini

Il narratore, una specie di Don Chisciotte

Narrator

Dulcinea del Toboso

Charlemagne (King)

Angelique

Messenger

Orlando

Renaud de Montauban

Bishop

Ganelon

Soldier

Guard

Accumulation of events

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Fight

Chase

Unveiling

Double identity

Running away

Love story

Splitting of the body

Personified object

Trap

Love rivalry

Plot scene

Narrative Theater

Murder on stage

Storyteller

Roncisvalle!

Roncevaux !

Armando, the narrator's alter ego, is unable to complete his project to build a watermill to irrigate his vegetable garden. His search for a solution leads him to meet the residents of his neighbourhood and recount their stories, which paint a picture of lives not yet alienated, neighbourhood celebrations and funerals, love and betrayal, everyday existence and dreams. In particular, on this day, the funeral of Stevanato is being celebrated, a former worker who, along with other retirees, had created a community workshop in the church basement to serve the neighbourhood, where anything and everything could be repaired. The engineering project designed to make the statue of St Joseph in the church cry will provide Armando with the solution to make his mill work: he was missing a helical gear mechanism, the famous “vite senza fine” (endless screw).

Brunello Gigio

Molnár Gyula (aka Giulio Molnár)

Mogliano Veneto

Italy (north)

Workers’ memory

Factory

Worker

Church

People

District

Realist

Storie del secolo scorso

Postman

Grandmother

Priest

Husband

Engineer

Domestic scene

Address to the public

Avista

Light effects

Letter

Popular speech

Story

Procession

Vite senza fine

Vis sans fin

Ondina Peteani was born in Trieste on 26 April 1925. As a teenager, she began to associate with the Fontanot family and attended communist meetings. At the age of seventeen, she chose to become an underground activist of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). She soon began to carry out her first resistance actions under the pseudonym "Natalia". During a police operation in a mountain refuge, Ondina managed to save herself with the help of comrade Cvetko. In June 1943, all the members of the resistance group to which Ondina belonged, Ondina herself, her mother and her sister were imprisoned because of a double agent. After the armistice on 8 September, they are all freed by the people. The informer turns out to be Ondina's sister, Santina, because she had a love affair with a young fascist. Santina is executed. Fighting against the Germans begins and the resistance fighters succumb after a fierce struggle. Ondine and comrade Stecchi are sent in pursuit of the traitor Blechi, who has caused the death of many resistance fighters after infiltrating among them. The comic sketch with the glove-puppets begins: Blechi notices the presence of Ondina and Stecchi and disguises himself as a priest so as not to be recognised, thus managing to escape. When he meets Ondina, he disguises himself as an old man, but she recognises him and Blechi is caught and killed. In 1944, Ondina is deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp as a political prisoner. She survives despite the physical and psychological hardships. The horror she experienced in the camp did not erase her conviction that she had to fight for resistance and freedom.

Glove-puppet

Gloved hand

Cuscunà Marta

Monfalcone

Documentary story

Biography

True story

Resistance fighter

Partisan struggle

Resistance

Fascism

Communism

Feminism

Woman

Heroism

Maquis

Concentration camp

Pathetic

Dramatic

Progetto di teatro civile per un’attrice, cinque burattini e un pupazzo

Choir

Peasant accent

Comical regional accent

Transforming scenery

Disguise

Confinement

Pantomime

Disguised character (false identity)

Puppet theatre within the theatre

È bello vivere liberi!

It's good to live free!

The puppeteer is about to tell a true story, the story of Lumi and Ginco, two young migrants from Albania. Their friend Vassillaq was supposed to play the role of the narrator, but as he did not show up, the puppeteer will do it for him. The young girl Lumi lives in Albania with her brother Bato and their grandmother. Their parents have lived in Venice-Mestre, Italy for eight years. One day the two siblings are finally able to join their parents: a wealthy cousin who lives in Canada has asked for Lumi's hand in marriage, and Bregan, Lumi's father, has accepted. Lumi and Bato embark on the perilous sea journey and finally arrive in Venice-Mestre. Another young Albanian, Ginco, has recently arrived at the site where Bregan works. He has no papers, but he is helped by Bregan and Vassillaq, another Albanian migrant with a passion for illegal car racing. As soon as they meet, Ginco and Lumi fall madly in love, but when Bregan finds out, he is furious: he wants to marry Lumi to her rich cousin. The day of the official engagement arrives, but Lumi is disgusted by her fat and pompous cousin. To punish her, her father sends her to live with her aunt, but Lumi continues to see Ginco and becomes pregnant. It is finally thanks to the intervention of the aunt that Bregan is convinced to allow the two young lovers to marry. The wedding finally takes place, but Vassillaq, who was supposed to be the groom's best man, is not there: he died the day before, while participating in one of his illegal races. That's why the puppeteer had to assume the role of narrator...

Object theatre

Migrant

Impossible love

Family stories

Real

Boat trip

Magic

Poetry

Corse clandestine in città

Cheval ailé

Fairy

Thwarted love

Absence of the main character

Lumi dall'alto

Lights from above

Alcide Cervi was a farmer. In 1934 he moved with his family to Gattatico, near Reggio Emilia, on a piece of land called Campirossi ("red fields"), which nobody wanted because it was infertile. He lives there with his nine children: seven boys and two girls. With hard work, they manage to make these fields prosper, and the family can afford to buy a tractor. The Cervi family is known for their anti-fascist political positions. After July 1943, when the Americans landed and Mussolini was arrested, all seemed well. But in November of the same year, a hundred fascists besieged the Campirossi house. The seven brothers try to resist, but they are arrested and eventually executed. As a sign of support and respect, Alcide Cervi never ceased to receive gifts from all sides: a Bible from the Fiat factory workers in Turin, a globe from the agricultural cooperative workers in Santa Vittoria, skittles for his grandchildren from some friends of the boules club. Finally, the puppeteer himself, Maurizio Bercini, wants to give Alcide a gift: a puppet with his features, with which he can transform pain 'into serenity and play'.