Avventure di Ruggero dell'Aquila bianca (Adventures of Ruggero of the White Eagle) is inspired by a long series of plays about Charlemagne’s paladins, which used to be performed by the opera dei pupi. In the 1970s, as their traditional audience was disappearing, puppeteers from Palermo began putting on shows recreating only a single episode of these adventures. At the time, Giacomo Cuticchio, Anna’s father, played a show about the death of Ruggero (Morte di Ruggiero), which was later also played by his children Mimmo (Avventure di Ruggero dell'Aquila Bianca) and Anna. In Anna Cuticchio’s version, the Pope receives Ruggero at the beginning of the show, and his death is avenged by Bradamante (while in the texts of Anna’s father and brother, Pinamonte is killed by Orlando).

As Carlo Magno’s (Charlemagne) ambassador, Ruggero has gone to ask for the Pope’s help in the impeding war against the African king Agramante and other pagan kings. On the way home, Ruggero kills a snake in the woods. Then, in a port, he saves the princess Aladina as she was being abducted by a giant. At nightfall, Aladina and Ruggero ask for food and bed at Altaripa’s castle. At this moment (in this version), Ruggero is poisoned then killed by the traitor Pinamonte. The necromancer Malagigi hears about the death of Ruggero through demons. But Aladina manages to escape, goes to Carlo Magno’s court and relates this terrible act of treason. The paladins besiege Altaripa’s castle and Bradamante, Ruggero’s wife, kills Pinamonte.