This manuscript comes from the collections of the company Colla and son, which inherited Giuseppe Fiando’s theatre in Milan. The comic character of the play – the Piedmontese Famiola – may have existed since 1811. He belonged to the repertory of the Collas until the theatre Fiando was taken over in 1910. He was then abandoned and replaced by the character Gerolamo, who the theatre was named after. The text of the manuscript was published in 1958 in Roberto Leydi and Renata Mezzanotte Leydi’s Marionette e burattini as an example of Don Giovanni’s presence in traditional puppet plays – the topic was indeed very popular in Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries. The play shares some common elements with the text of Lorenzo da Ponte’s booklet for Mozart’s opera (1787) – a fact which raises the question of the possible influence of Mozart’s opera on the traditional repertory of puppeteers in the 19th century.

The edited text indicates the passages that were crossed out by puppeteers – usually sexual innuendoes.

Don Giovanni poses as Don Ottavio and rapes his fiancée Donna Anna in the Royal Palace of Naples and then flees after snuffing the candle of the king – who came running when he heard her scream. His uncle Don Pietro helps him run away – he will make sure Don Ottavio is accused. Don Giovanni leaves Naples for Castile with his valet Famiola. On the way, their boat sinks. Don Giovanni takes advantage of the opportunity to rape the shepherdess who rescued them, much to the displeasure of Famiola, who thought he had charmed her by posing as his master. In Castile, they meet Don Ottavio, who went into exile with his valet Brighella. The king of Castile promised him the commander Oliola’s (or Ogliola) daughter – who is also called Donna Anna. Don Giovanni tries to have her before his rival does, but he is caught by Oliola and kills him in a duel. Then he sees the monument the king had built in the commander’s memory, and he invites his statue over for dinner. The statue comes and invites him too. Don Giovanni goes with Famiola, and he agrees to take the statue’s hand. The statue urges him to repent, but he refuses and is taken to Hell. Brighella, who was chasing Don Giovanni, finds Famiola alone and offers him employment at the court of the king of Castile. The play ends with a scene showing Don Giovanni desperate in hell.