Pinocchio

As a child, I loved the story of Pinocchio.  He did something, lying, that the adults said was terrible, but he seemed like a sweet boy and all that happened was his nose grew long…That was my child rationalization of the story. A sweet child, who told lies, but survived.

I also loved Marionettes.  Like many of my generation, Howdy Doody was my favorite after school show. For Christmas one year I received a Howdy Doody set.  I had Howdy Doody, Mr Buster and Flub a Dub, which looked like a strange dog but was a combination of 8 different animals.  I was ecstatic when I opened the box and saw Howdy.  I wanted to make the marionettes move like the did on TV. I forced my sister to sit in her little red rocking chair while I tried to understand how to work all of the strings, not get them into knots and keep the attention of my baby sister, hopeless! I grew so frustrated, I put them in a box and never really played with them.

So, I have always been intrigued by puppets and marionettes, apparently as are the Italians.

Our lovely teacher Eleanora took us to the puppet theater in Perugia.  The Teatro di Figura; tieffeu.
It was astonishing.  The puppets inside are remarkable.

The man who created the puppets is also the puppet master.  It is astonishing to watch him transform this lifeless creatures into movements of life filled with emotions. Look at the intensity and love on his face.

Here he is with his gallery of friends.  He is so tiny he could be a puppet himself!

He created all of these creatures, and said he had tons more at home.

Italian children learn fables and stories through the use of puppets. Do our children know the Greek myths from puppet shows?

The school we are going to is so cool.  It is very personal and we learn about Italian culture both directly and indirectly.  Even the Stoic One is liking it but he hates reflexive verbs!