Arlecchino, on horseback, and Facanapa, on a donkey, are strolling, when they meet a man wearing a hairshirt. Arlecchino thinks that he is a wizard and his enemy, and challenges him. The man tells him that, if he wins, Arlecchino will have to follow him everywhere. Arlecchino answers that if he is the one to win, the man will have to assist the noble Colombina, his beloved. Arlecchino loses the duel, and is forced to follow the man to a castle where he is locked up with Facanapa. The owner explains that he is not a wizard but the marquis Francesco Del Ponte, back from a pilgrimage. He assures that Arlecchino is not a knight but the servant Arlecchino Battocchio, and that Facanapa is a peasant, and he tells them to stop their madness. Arlecchino is sad, angry and hungry, but the marquis says that he will not give them food until they stop fooling around. Later, Arlecchino meets the castle elderly maid who recognises him. She had met him when he was a child, but he does not believe that. After fighting over a piece of bread, Arlecchino and Facanapa manage to escape and reach the woods. There, they fight against imaginary enemies made up by Arlecchino’s hallucinations. Arlecchino fiercely fights a herd of pigs, wounding and killing them. Guards arrive and throw themselves at him. Arlecchino, who thinks he has been turned into a donkey, starts braying. Facanapa concludes, and says that a servant can become both a knight and a donkey.

String marionette

All audiences

Italy

Printed

Wandering

Knight

Madness

Comical

Arlecchino cavaliere errante e Facanapa suo scudiere (circa 1900)

Italian

Arlecchino

Facanapa

Horseman

Sancho Panza

Marquis

Maid

Guardian

Duel scene

Misunderstanding

Hallucination

Confinement

Scene of recognition

Blow-with-a-stick

Fight with an animal

Scene of madness

Arlecchino cavaliere errante e Facanapa suo scudiere

Harlequin the wandering knight and Facanapa his horseman

A cuntista (storyteller) relates that Carlo Magno has thrown a party for the birth of his first child, gathering the paladins of France and foreign knights. Princess Angelica arrives accompanied by her brother Argalia and four giants. Angelica and Carlo Magno make a deal: the first knight to defeat Argalia in a spear duel will get to marry the princess, but those that will be defeated will be made prisoners. Every paladin and every foreign knight want to fight. Malagigi, the necromancer, discovers Argalia’s deception. He has a magical spear and Angelica has a ring that will make her invisible and will help her escape. Malagigi, however, does not manage to warn the paladins, for he too has succumbed to Angelica’s beauty and has thus been made prisoner. After Astolfo (the first knight to lose the spear duel against Argalia) comes the Spanish Ferraù who does not admit defeat and ends up killing Argalia. Astolfo and Angelica manage to flee. 
At the Royal Palace, Carlo Magno is desperate because an enemy army is besieging the city of Paris and most of the paladins (including Orlando) have gone looking for Angelica. Carlo Magno entrusts the command of the army to Rinaldo. In the meantime, Angelica falls in love with Medoro, a pagan soldier, and Orlando goes mad when he finds out that they love each other. Astolfo finds a hippogriff which takes him to the moon. The cuntista relates that Astolfo finds Orlando’s lost spirit on the moon. He then interrupts his story and announces that he will continue it later.

Armed rod marionette

Single rod marionettes

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Palermo

Venice

Unrequited love

Moon

Travel in the air

Magic object

Deception

Epic

Fantasy

Sicilian

Angelica alla corte di Re Carlo

Storyteller

Charlemagne (King)

Soldier

Angelique

Astolphe

Orlando

Renaud de Montauban

Ferragu

Paladin

Oliver

Maugis

Magician

Devil

Giant

Archbishop Turpin

King

Peasant

Hippogriff

Ganelon

Apparition of the Devil

Sword fight

Undressed character on stage

Fighting a monster

Flying character

Address to the public

Interrupting

Dal Catai a Parigi

From Cathay to Paris. Angelica at King Charlemagne’s court

Convinced that there are people on the Moon, Pulcinella wonders where they are hiding. The Moon invites him to go to her on a funicular ship. He meets the lunatic Beniamino, who explains that everyone is terrorised and has been hiding since the American astronaut came. This astronaut claims that the Moon belongs to him, and he wants to kill Pulcinella. But Pulcinella sends him back to earth with a blow of a stick. Beniamino asks Pulcinella to look after a dead grandfather, who turns out to be a very beautiful baby. Death convinces Pulcinella to be his baby and sings him lullabies so that he falls asleep, but Pulcinella wakes up and fights Him. A monstrous dog plays with Pulcinella, but he is frightened when the cloned ewe Dolly bites him. Pulcinella kills Dolly and, as a reward, Beniamino offers him his wife Carlotta. Pulcinella chooses instead to marry their daughter Teresina, and he goes back to earth with her.