A year after the first successful performances of Girello in Rome, Filippo Acciaiuoli and Giovanni Filippo Apolloni stage L'Empio punito (The Non-believer punished) at the Palazzo Colonna in Borgo, on February 17th, 1669. Giovanni Filippo Apolloni is tasked, depending on the sources, with either simply correcting the texts or versifying them entirely based on a plot by Acciaiuoli, who has already made a name for himself thanks to the technical sophistication of his puppets. The score is composed by Alessandro Melani, and the author’s name does not appear on the libretto. Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna gifts the play to Christina, Queen of Sweden—she is a clockmaker, as passionate about music as she is about mechanisms, and has been staying in Rome since 1655. The première is performed for an audience exclusively composed of men (the hostess herself, Maria Mancini, has to hide to watch it), more precisely noblemen, as well as twenty-six Cardinals. Later, Colonna gave another performance, open to women and dedicated to Caterina Rospigliosi.

The play is the first to transpose the myth of Dom Juan to the opera. It relocates the story in Macedonia. The characters travel to various places. The story is complex and brings together aulic (that is, pertaining to the royal court) and farcical elements: the royal couples (Cloridoro and Ipomene; Atrace and Atamira) contrast with a burlesque duo—Bibi and the old nurse Delfa. The character Niceste also provides a farcical sort of comic, used to oppose Delfa in a scene of farcical insults (III, 15); he also accidentally causes Bibi to fall repeatedly (II, 1).

The play is striking in its many interludes, sceneries and dramatic effects: choirs of grooms, choirs of seamen singing during a scene of sinking, a choir of Devils in the Underworld, a dance of Moors or squires , a dance of monsters , and one of statues. The eleven changes of scenes require extreme technical virtuosity and may be inspired by Giacomo Torelli’s technique, using a sliding system moving around a central winch.

The play features several popular scenes: a gripping nightmare, a garden with a fountain allowing for water displays, and a sinking scene. A series of spectacular scenes bring the audience down into the Underworld; full-view changes of scenery follow Acrimante’s journey into the abyssal Cocytus. The dance of the Statues leads to a play on vocabulary traditionally associated with puppets, which leads to believe that the dance is performed with wooden figurines, moved on rails and operated using a counterbalance system controlled from beneath the stage, while the singers perform behind the stage. Talking about the stone characters which are beginning to move, Bibi uses the expression “curiosi bambocci” (III, 16), before promising Delfa that he will tell her “l’historia del bamboccio, che vola”—a reference to Tidemo’s statue ascending to Heaven. Puppets may also be used in the dance of Monsters and for the devils in the Underworld. L’Empio punito therefore brings together the mechanical universe Acciaiuoli explored thus far, and the great puppet operas he will produce in later years.

The play begins at the Court of Pella, with a choir of grooms seeing Ipomene, King Atrace’s sister, waiting for the return of her lover Cloridoro. When Cloridoro comes back, the couple sings their mutual love. In the woods, Atamira, daughter of the Corinthian King, is miserable as she waits for the return of her husband Acrimante. Witnessing the sinking of a ship, she saves two unlucky men, who turn out to be Acrimante and his servant Bibi. After recognising her, Acrimante rejects Atamira’s love and instead chooses to follow young shepherdesses. Atamira grieves, then falls asleep: Atrace and Cloridoro, gone hunting, find her in this state. Atrace immediately falls in love with Atamira and promises to help her. Acrimante arrives at Court and falls in love with Ipomene, while Bibi wooes the nurse Delfa. When he comes back from hunting, Atrace learns about Acrimante’s arrival and tasks Cloridoro with looking after their host, to whom he is a loyal friend. While Cloridoro reunites with Ipomene, Acrimante asks Bibi to find a cure to his love for the Infanta. During a farcical duo involving two lovers, Bibi learns from Delfa that Ipomene loves Cloridoro. Bibi asks the nurse to take the young woman to Acrimante’s bedroom, where she is told that she will meet with her lover. During another meeting between Acrimante and Atamira, Acrimante mistreats his wife, who becomes miserable again. The act concludes with a dance of Squires or Moors around the King, who is deeply in love with Atamira.

When he tries to kiss Delfa from his balcony, Bibi falls. Atrace, who sees him flee on his mule dressed in his master’s clothes, believes that Acrimante has betrayed him; he imagines that he is the lover of his sister or of the woman he loves. He decides to avenge himself and has him called. Summoned by the King when he was with Ipomene, Acrimante must leave her. Atrace and Cloridoro are jealous of him—one about Atamira, and the other about Ipomene. The King puts Acrimante in prison, which is a source of distress for Atamira: her husband rejects her love once again. Cloridoro believes that Ipomene has betrayed him and reproaches her for things she does not understand. Atrace decides to sentence Acrimante to death, and Atamira offers to carry out his order. She gives him a vial of fake poison, and he falls apart after asking his wife for forgiveness. Atamira has the body carried to her room. Cloridoro is upset over Ipomene’s betrayal, and Delfa tells him the truth: the two lovers reconcile and agree to meet at night, in the garden. Atrace, who rejoices over Acrimante’s death, proposes to Atamira; she refuses, without saying that she is already married. After dark, Bibi falls asleep while he is guarding his master’s body. Delfa, who came to meet him, caresses him and pretends to be Acrimante’s spirit. Bibi is frightened for a moment. Then, embarrassed to talk about love next to the body, he takes Delfa outside the room. The demon arrives and claims Acrimante’s soul, in a dreaming scene taking place in Proserpina’s kingdom. The monsters and spirits dance during an interlude, while the Queen of the Underworld declares her love to Acrimante.

Atamira is waiting for her husband to wake up. When he arises from his lethargic state (greatly scaring Bibi), she declares her love to him. Accusing his wife of attempting to kill him, Acrimante dismisses her again. Bibi informs him of the rendez-vous planned between Ipomene and Cloridoro: Acrimante shows up instead of his friend, in a night scene secretly witnessed by Atrace. When she realises her mistake, Ipomene screams for help; Tidemo, a counsel, rushes to her rescue. Acrimante kills him and flees. Atrace is set on finding the culprit and sentencing him to death. A Corinthian ambassador informs the King that they will be at war, unless he marries Atamira: the King formally proposes to the young Princess, but she refuses to marry him; when he tells her that he will marry her whether she wants it or not, so as to avoid the war, she decides to kill herself. On the run, Acrimante arrives at the garden in Tidemo’s palace, where he finds a statue of his owner. He begins to speak with the statue, which he eventually invites to dinner. The statue tilts its head forward, then goes have dinner with its host. One table and six statues appointed by Pluto appear: Tidemo sits down at the table, as the statues dance and praise Pluto in a song. The earth opens, Acrimante sinks towards the abyss while Tidemo flies off in the sky. Once in the abyss of the Cocytus, Acrimante asks for forgiveness; Caronte (Charon) takes him to the Underworld. At court, Bibi tells Atamira about her husband’s death. She can now agree to marry Atrace. The play ends with three marriages.