Home | Vincenzo Pandolfo Puppets and Sicilian cart Museum in Castelbuono

Sicilian Puppet headform with rod for manoeuvreing it and hanger for storing it

I’ll be a puppet...

Open one eye and after the other.
Who am I? Where am I? But overall, which language am I speaking?
I can’t hear nothing but my mouth that opens and closes and my eyes. My head seems to be wooden, but it’s filled with iron, a shaft crosses it. I see two persons into me, they observe me and they discuss what to do, they turn to me and they call me puppet and to themselves as puppeteers.

Now I know! I will be a puppet and I will live in Sicily, my language will be the sicilian and my travel companions are being born right now, here with me. Around me I can see many limbs, but none seem belonging to me…

Bust dummy of a sicilian puppet skeleton

whit the left hand free

Now the hook under my neck has found its own place: it fits perfectly inside an inlet in what seems to be my bust. The puppeteers have carved hourglass-shaped, the wood is sturdy and resistant, they say it’s beechwood, different from my head that it’s made in cypress wood.

I start to feel my arms and my hands, but it’s a strange feeling different from the rest of my body. My arms are soft and articulated, in fabric, but my hands are rigid, wood has been carved with a specific intention: my right hand is clenched to a fist, my left hand moves freely.

legs dummy of a sicilian puppet skeleton

and i'll kneel down,

Even the inlets at the bottom of the bust now perform their function: they accommodate my thighs. They seem to be strong and resistant as my whole body, they allow me great movements! I walk comfortably with my jointed knees and very easilyI lower on my knees. My legs have different lengths, will I walk crippled?

I am still naked, but I have shoe shaped feet with a little heel.

I'll be Nofrio

Coppola, jacket and trousers dress me, I stand out from the others paladins. I have no armor, my hand doesn’t hold any weapon and no shield. Aniron rod leads my right hand and a wire rope manoeuvres my left hand, on stage myself and the puppeteer are one thing. Firm movements and small jumps make of my walking a true art.

They gave me the name of Nofrio, I have the task to tell stories of the others.

Clothes silhouette of armorless puppet