This temporary exhibition about the fantastic world of Burattini remained open to the public until March 2020. Among its seventy pieces, the exhibition showed glove-puppets, together with more artistic material from different public and private Italian collections. As a whole, they illustrate an incredibly rich and one-off heritage that covers a period of history that goes from the beginning of the 19th until the end of the 20th century. The Italian tradition of puppet theatre, so peculiar, fragmented and provincial due to the country’s political and social history, presents a variety of regional masks and characters that belong to unique European cities.
The visitor had the chance to see figures that belonged to the Commedia dell’Arte of the 16th century, with the likes of Pulcinella, Arlecchino, Brighella, Pantalone and Doctor Balanzone; others that were born between the 17th and 19th centuries as were Gianduja and Gioppino; some from the beginning of the 20th century like Bargnocla, Testafina, Pampalughino and Tascone; and samples of the more modern Areste Paganos, Pirù, and Tavà among others.