Amleto, ovvero Arlecchino principe di Danimarca (Hamlet, or Arlequin, Prince of Denmark) is a rewriting of Shakespeare’s tragedy, published in Trieste in a collection of commediole per marionette (short comedies for puppets) gathered by the bookseller-publisher G. Chiopris. These comedies featuring Facanapa and Arlecchino use various Italian dialects: Facanapa comes from Veneto (Verona or Rovigo) and Arlequin from Bergamo, in Lombardy. Despite the title of the collection, the anonymous author describes their Amleto as a tragedy: although the characters from the commedia dell'arte keep their traits (gluttony and cowardice) and their comic strands, the plot broadly follows that of Shakespeare’s tragedy; however, a final twist was added. This play most notably featured in the repertoire of Bepe Pastrello (1906-1991), a glove-puppeteer from Castelfranco Veneto (in Veneto).

Arlecchino (Amleto; Hamlet) meets with Facanapa (Orazio; Horatio) and Marcello (Marcelus) on the ramparts to meet his father’s ghost. The thought of it terrifies him, and when the ghost (Lo Spettro in the text) appears, he first refuses to follow him. The ghost reveals that he was killed by his own brother Claudio (Claudius), Arlecchino’s uncle, and asks his son to avenge him while sparing his mother Gertrude, who married Claudio after his death. Arlecchino asks Facanapa and Marcello to swear that they will keep this a secret. Claudio, Gertrude, Brighella (Polonius) and his daughter Ofelia (Ophelia) are talking about Arlecchino’s strange behaviour. Brighella asks Ofelia to speak with him, but Arlecchino is delirious and advises her to join a convent. Arlecchino makes Brighella believe that he is mad, but the latter hides to spy on Arlechinno’s conversation with his mother Gertrude. Arlecchino kills Brighella in his hiding place and reproaches his mother for having married Claudio; but the ghost appears and commands Arlecchino to show Gertrude respect. Laerte (Laertes), Brighella’s son, swears to avenge his father. Gertrude tells Claudio that Arlecchino knows the secret behind his father’s death. Claudio asks Laerte to challenge Arlecchino to a duel, and says that he will put poison on the tip of his sword. Desperate after being rejected by Arlecchino, Ofelia has killed herself. In the cemetery where she is to be buried, the gravedigger (becchino) shows Arlecchino the skull of the jester Yorick. Laerte challenges Arlecchino to avenge both his sister Ofelia and their father Brighella. Arlecchino asks that they swap swords. Wounded, Laerte dies. Gertrude also dies, poisoned by the wine meant for Arlecchino. The latter chases Claudio and kills him; then he falls, telling Facanapa that he too should die. But he gets up, reveals that he was only pretending to be hurt and leaves with Facanapa: the two of them are going to eat polenta. Seeing all these corpses, they lament that they cannot eat them.