A life lived among puppets. The art of puppeteer and storyteller Mimmo Cuticchio is recognized as a cultural treasure. There’s something fitting about tracing the story of this icon when Palermo has been named Italian Capital of Culture 2018.
Thanks to Cuticchio, the language of an island in the middle of the Mediterranean has become universal. Cuticchio learned his art from his father Giacomo – an ancient art born of tradition and patience. In 1973, at a time when theatres were closing, he decided to open one by his own, in via Bara all’Olivella, in the heart of Palermo. And he found the recipe for success: by transferring the tradition of one era to another, broadening it and bringing it up to date. First he put on performances based on tales of chivalry adapted for a young audience. The puppets live on. Today, some of the wooden knights that Cuticchio grew up with as his playmates are conserved at Palazzo Branciforte Museum in Palermo. Over a hundred unique objects which retrace the history of Sicilian theatre from 1830 to 1960. “The last puppeteer”, the journalists called him in the 70s, though it was never a definition that appealed to Cuticchio. “I used to correct them: please don’t call me that, I’d say. Call me the first of a new generation”.
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