MALAGUERRA: THE ANTI-STATE SUPER-HERO OF
SICILIAN PUPPET THEATER
Jo Ann Cavallo
Columbia University
RIASSUNTO: Anche se il personaggio è poco conosciuto oggi, Morbello/Malaguerra era famoso
in Sicilia e altrove in Italia dalla metà del XIX alla metà del XX secolo. Questo saggio si concentra
sulle sue vicissitudini in stampa (Storia dei paladini di Francia) e nell’opera dei pupi, ma anche
sulla diffusione del suo nome e sulle sue avventure fuori Sicilia, sia nel maggio epico del Nord
Italia che nei copioni di un puparo catanese attivo a New York City. Poiché Malaguerra contesta
ripetutamente le ingiustizie perpetrate dai potenti, la sua storia ci ricorda che l'opera dei pupi
non era semplicemente una soap opera cavalleresca per le masse prima della televisione, ma poteva
essere un veicolo per esprimere un atteggiamento critico verso lo Stato sotto la copertura di
drammatizzazioni epiche medievali e rinascimentali. Può darsi, infatti, che il suo sottofondo
politico sia stato un motivo della sua popolarità sia nell'Italia meridionale che tra gli immigrati
italiani nei centri urbani del Nuovo Mondo. Più in generale, il saggio intende contribuire alla
discussione delle ideologie politiche nel genere epico cavalleresco, soprattutto nel contesto della
cultura popolare italiana.
PAROLE CHIAVE: Malaguerra, Morbello, opera dei pupi, Sicilia, Giusto Lodico, Storia dei
paladini di Francia, maggio epico, epica cavalleresca, Manteo
ABSTRACT: Although this literary figure is little known today, Morbello/Malaguerra was
famous in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy from the mid-19th to mid-20th century. This essay
focuses on his vicissitudes in print (Storia dei paladini di Francia) and on the puppet theater
stage, with some attention to the spread of his name and adaptation of his adventures outside
Sicily, both in the epic Maggio tradition of northern Italy and in the scripts of a Catanese
puppeteer active in New York City. Because Malaguerra repeatedly contests the injustices
AOQU – Forme e modi dell’epica, I (2020) - https://riviste.unimi.it/aoqu - ISBN 9788855262880 DOI 10.13130/aoqu-01-08
Jo Ann Cavallo
perpetrated by those in power, his story reminds us that l’opera dei pupi was not simply a
chivalric soap opera for the masses before television, but could be a vehicle to express a critical
attitude toward the State under the cover of dramatizing medieval and Renaissance epics.
Indeed, it may be that puppet theater’s political undercurrent was a factor in its massive
popularity both in southern Italy and among Italian immigrants in urban centers of the New
World. More generally, the essay aims to contribute to the discussion of political ideologies in
the chivalric epic genre, especially in the context of Italian popular culture.
KEY-WORDS: Malaguerra, anti-state, Sicilian puppet theater, chivalric literature, libertarian,
Italian romance epic
***
Sicilian puppet theater is known today for its fierce battles in which wooden knights
with metal armor, swords, and shields clash furiously, sometimes even slicing their
opponents’ faces or bodies in two. The traditional opera dei pupi spectators who avidly
followed the chivalric dramas on a daily basis, however, could have distinguished three
very distinct (albeit sometimes interwoven) types of conflict derived from their
medieval and Renaissance chivalric epic sources: first, collective battles spearheaded by
rulers, such as Charlemagne’s invasion of Spain to win a kingdom for his nephew
Orlando; second, personal rivalries, such as the enmity between the cousins Orlando
and Rinaldo over the wily princess Angelica of Cathay; and third, hostilities between a
sovereign and individual knights, such as Charlemagne’s recurring mistreatment of
Rinaldo under the influence of his evil counselor Gano di Magonza. 1 From the
perspective of libertarian literary criticism, the third category is of particular interest for
its use of epic narrative to provide model figures who struggle against the abusive power
1
The classic study of Sicilian puppet theater is PASQUALINO 1977. For book-length studies in English, see
MCCORMICK - CIPOLLA - NAPOLI 2011 and CROCE 2014.
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of the political state. Especially noteworthy in this regard is the anti-state super-hero
Morbello, who calls himself Malaguerra. As the Sicilian anthropologist Antonio
Pasqualino has aptly put it, this character «vorrebbe portare il suo rifiuto del potere
statale fino alla totale delegittimazione del sovrano».2 Although this exemplary figure
has been virtually forgotten today, he was famous in Sicily and well-known in other
parts of Italy from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. This essay focuses on
Morbello’s vicissitudes in print and on stage, with some attention to the spread of his
name and adaptation of his adventures outside the context of Sicilian puppet theater, in
order to contribute to the discussion of political undercurrents in the chivalric epic
genre, especially in the context of Italian popular culture.
GIUSTO LODICO’S STORIA DEI PALADINI DI FRANCIA
Morbello/Malaguerra first appears in Giusto Lodico’s Storia dei paladini di Francia
(1858-1860), an almost 3.000 page prose compilation based on several medieval and
Renaissance chivalric poems.3 By seamlessly interweaving his invented character’s
vicissitudes with those of the most famous paladins of France, in primis Rinaldo and
Orlando, Lodico gives the impression that this most subversive figure had a venerable
literary pedigree. Nor does the new story clash with the canonical narratives
surrounding it. On the contrary, as I discuss below, it serves as the undistilled expression
of an anti-authoritarian sentiment already running through some of the Lodico’s
principal sources.
2
PASQUALINO 1992: 100.
Worldwide there are only a few known copies of this original edition, which I was able to consult thanks
to the kindness of the puppeteer Onofrio Sanicola.
3
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The Storia dei paladini replays over and over the animosity between
Charlemagne and his paladins, primarily Rinaldo. The twelfth and thirteenth books
elaborating Pulci’s Morgante underscore this theme right through to the battle of
Roncisvalle in which Rinaldo emerges as the avenging hero, after which Lodico brings
his work to a close depicting the paladin’s death and sanctification. Accordingly, there
was no pressing need to invent yet another character to embody the ruler-paladin
opposition. Nonetheless, Lodico takes great care not only in developing his character
but also in situating his story within the arc of the compilation. Morbello is the
protagonist of the entire Book Six: the Book opens as Rinaldo encounters him as an
infant on the coast of Spain and it closes with the youth’s incoronation as the emperor
of Trabisonda (Trebizond, in today’s Turkey). Despite the technique of entrelacement
which required the insertion of additional narrative threads, Morbello is active in
thirteen of the Book’s twenty chapters and dominates most of these even though
Lodico is not following any single source in this section as he does in most of the rest of
the work. Morbello is given prominence through his story’s placement as well: his
extended adventures throughout Book Six immediately precede the retelling of
Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato in Books Seven, Eight, and part of Nine, thus forming
together the central and substantial core of Lodico’s thirteen-book structure.
The first chapter of Book Six narrates Rinaldo’s encounter with a fisher-man
who beseeches him to take over the care of an abandoned infant.4 The fisherman knows
nothing of the baby’s origin other than the fact that the father had condemned his child
to die at sea, but the captain charged with the heinous task did not have the heart to
carry it out and entrusted the infant to his care instead. Rinaldo adopts the boy, giving
him the name of Morbello to remember the site where he was discovered, and brings
him home to his wife Clarice to raise him. While the boy grows with «ardire
4
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia, vol. II: 408-409.
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insuperabile» until he equals the strength of Rinaldo, Lodico makes a point to inform
us that nothing of note happens at the Parisian court for the next fifteen years («per il
periodo di quindici anni nulla avvenne che fosse degno di esser narrato in questa nostra
storia»).5 It is as though the heart of Charlemagne’s empire will only be worthy of his
attention again when the fifteen-year-old Morbello arrives on the scene.
The early, initiatic adventures of Morbello – in which he acquires enchanted
arms, wins his first joust, conquers the heart of the lovely damsel Rosana, and frees his
fellow paladins from an enchantment – establish his preeminence as a knight (chapters
3-5). Yet despite having been honored by the emperor and promised Rosana as his
bride, Malaguerra is subsequently pit against Charlemagne in an extended episode that
spans three chapters (13-15). Following a pattern common throughout the work, the
conflict is set into motion through the evildoing of Gano di Magonza. After originally
planning to abduct Rosana on behalf of his nephew, the treacherous Gano decides to
possess the damsel himself. Although Morbello chases the culprit to Paris (after
accompanying an unharmed Rosana safely to her homeland) and gains the support of
Orlando who promises him «degna riparazione»,6 Gano avoids punishment by
inventing a fraudulent story that wins the emperor to his side. Morbello is subsequently
persuaded by Orlando to forgive his fiancée’s abductor, thus demonstrating the youth’s
earnest effort to make peace.7
Malaguerra’s troubles are far from over, however, and the continuation of the
episode will directly implicate the emperor in Gano’s subsequent evildoing. It is with
the complicity of Charlemagne, «che non sapea dispiacersi il cognato»,8 that Gano
attempts to arrest Malaguerra in his sleep during the night. The wary knight, however,
5
Ivi: 409-410.
Ivi: 520.
7
Ivi: 522.
8
Ibidem.
6
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who had remained awake to defend himself against just such an eventuality, kills the
guards who attempt to carry out the treacherous plan and wounds Gano in the process.
With the ensuing commotion and rumor of Gano’s death, Malaguerra «dovette
sostenere gran battaglia» to defend himself against an onslaught of knights.9 Orlando
manages to stop the battle and gives Malaguerra the occasion to explain «l’orrendo
tradimento che Carlo e Gano suo cognato aveano ordito contro di me».10 Warning
Malaguerra that «ogni tua difesa sarà vana se Carlo ti troverà in questa reggia», Orlando
urges the youth to escape just as Tancredi had told the Gerusalemme Liberata’s Rinaldo
to do when Goffredo was about to act unjustly against him (Gerusalemme liberata, V
40-50). Once Morbello steps foot outside of France, however, he will never return to
the site of the conflict. Thus, unlike Tasso’s crusading epic, the Storia dei paladini
never stages a reconcilation between the imprudent authority figure and the mistreated
knight, thus underscoring the incompatibility between individual rights and
overreaching political power.
Although Malaguerra has left Paris, readers are encouraged to continue feeling
righteous indignation against Charlemagne though an ensuing scene pitting the
emperor against Orlando and the rest of the paladins. Upon learning that Orlando
helped Malaguerra escape, Charlemagne orders him to prison and threatens a fitting
punishment («pena condegna»). Orlando not only resists the emperor’s command but
wants «colui che si lascia guidare da uno scellerato ministro» to know that «Orlando
non è stato mai tanto dappoco da farsi menare ad ingiusto castigo». 11 When
Charlemagne subsequently calls for Orlando’s arrest in a desire to demonstrate his
power («poiché bramava mostrare se più valeva la sua potenza, o quella di un
miserabile»), the paladins refuse to obey the command and simply depart. This is one
9
Ivi: 523.
Ivi: 524.
11
Ivi: 525.
10
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of the many occasions in the Storia dei paladini in which Charlemagne’s unjust orders
lead to a withdrawal of consent of the kind evoked by Étienne de La Boétie in his
Discours de la servitude volontaire, the quintessential Renaissance treatise on a people’s
right to disobey a tyrant.12 Faced with the mutiny of his knights, Charlemagne then
turns to his armed city guards. Instead of arresting Orlando, however, the guards deliver
the emperor to his nephew at swordpoint (technically, at lancepoint). Brought to
«quell’estremo», Charlemange repents and asks Orlando’s pardon. After freeing the
emperor, Orlando leaves Paris and thus effectively (albeit temporarily) removes himself
from his service.
After a subsequent adventure in Macedonia (discussed briefly below) and a
hurricane at sea, Malaguerra eventually arrives in Trebizond where the rest of Book Six
plays out (chapters 17-20). After being hosted by an innkeeper who is «pieno di bontà»
and «di generoso cuore»,13 the knight defends the realm’s princess against a giant who
had treacherously sought her death by accusing her of sexual indiscretion. When
Malaguerra kills the giant after five hours of single combat, the latter’s brothers, rulers
of Armenia, head to Trebizond with a large army. Despite the gratitude the emperor
Arismondo should have felt for the heroic newcomer, out of fear and convenience he
has the knight apprehended in his bedroom (Gano’s earlier strategy) and placed in the
«più orrendo carcere di Trabisonda»14 in order to turn him over to be killed by the
brothers. Help comes in the form of non-political actors. First, at the news of the hero’s
imprisonment and impending death, the «popolo» spontaneously heads to the palace
and «minacciò di morte l’imperatore, se non rimettesse in libertà Malaguerra». Second,
the innkeeper who had hosted Malaguerra secretly leaves the city and «si pose a correre
valli e monti» to seek Rinaldo. Faced with the population’s rebellion, the king offers to
12
LA BOETIE, Discours de la servitude volontaire [Bayard].
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia, vol. II: 542-543.
14
Ivi: 550.
13
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free Malaguerra in exchange for his defense against the brothers. Thus the narrative
shows once again that a ruler is powerless when those subject to him resist. If earlier the
emperor of France could not detain Orlando when his knights disobeyed his orders,
now the emperor of Trebizond must free Malaguerra because his subjects rise up against
him.
The episode culminates in a climactic scene in which the king, in order to
rid himself of the giant’s angry brothers, treacherously poisons them at a supposedly
reconciliatory banquet. Believing himself to be poisoned as well, Malaguerra «pieno
di giusto sdegno» strikes a fatal blow against Arismondo [Figure 1]. The soldiers,
assuming that Malaguerra had killed the five royal guests as well as their own ruler,
immediately attack him en masse. After single-handedly staving everyone off for
over six hours, the youth is gravely wounded from behind. When the queen
intervenes to save his life, she spots a necklace she had left with her infant several
years before, thus realizing that the newly arrived knight is none other than her long
lost son Orello that Arismondo had sent to die at sea after a prophet foretold that at
the age of eighteen the boy would kill his father. The queen further explains that, at
her urging, the official charged with the task spared the infant’s life and took him to
a distant shore. In the meantime, the concerned innkeeper has succeeded in finding
not only Rinaldo, but also Orlando, Bradamante, Oliviero, Agolaccio, and
Gandellino who, after learning of «il nero tradimento dell’imperatore», 15 head to
Trebizond in all haste. Upon his arrival, Rinaldo is thus able to corroborate the
queen’s story by recounting how he came upon Morbello as an infant. Having thus
regained his original identity and family, Orello, surrounded by the principal
paladins of France, is happily proclaimed heir and emperor of Trebizond:
«ciascuno si tenne contento del nuovo erede e fu acclamato imperatore». 16
15
16
Ivi: 551.
Ivi: 557.
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
Figure 1. G. Mattaliano, Malaguerra uccide suo padre, in
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia, vol. II: 547
In addition to the general romance plot of the hero abandoned to his fate as an infant
and raised anonymously until his identity is discovered at a crucial moment, one can no
doubt recognize the specific story of Oedipus Rex behind King Arismondo’s failed
attempt to invalidate a dire prophecy through infanticide. Unlike Oedipus, however,
Malaguerra does not commit any unwitting act that brings shame upon himself or
others. On the contrary, he has no regrets in causing his father’s death since the latter
had sought to have him killed on two occasions. In addition to narrating the ruler’s evil
actions, Lodico had also expressed his reprobation as narrator by referring to
Arismondo as «il tiranno imperatore» who «reggea quel regno con obbrobrio del
proprio nome»17 and as «quel vecchio tiranno» who «avea dato prove della sua
crudeltà».18 Indeed, Lodico had prepared this moment right from the very opening of
Book Six where he condemned those who commit evil deeds as the result of prophecy.19
17
Ivi: 535.
Ivi: 542.
19
«Indarno l’uomo fugge il destino segnato dal fato, e dee reputarsi stolto colui, che prestando fede
agl’indovini, commette tal fiata enormi crudeltà, onde guadagnarsi miglior fortuna; giacché quando crede
aver cambiato sorte, e sia lungi da lui il predetto male, inavvedutamente accelera i passi per incontrarlo con
maggiore sciagura, ciò che sarà provato in questo libro sesto» (ivi: 407-408).
18
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Thus the entirety of this Book is cast as a morality tale with Arismondo as the villain
and Malaguerra and the hero destined to prevail.
Because Malaguerra was raised a Christian, he persuades his mother, the queen,
and subsequently the entire population, to convert as well, an example of spreading
Christianity through discourse rather than through armed conflict. Peacefully bringing
about the conversion to Christianity of a vast territory east of Europe would have
further established the character’s heroic stature for Lodico’s intended readership in
nineteenth-century Sicily. Although he uncompromisingly and consistently rebels
against the ruler of the Frankish state and even kills the emperor of Trebizond,
Malaguerra is, like Rinaldo during his later vicissitudes in the Storia dei paladini,
depicted as a faithful believer in the Christian God. Yet just when the reader could have
imagined a happily-ever-after ending with Orello as an exemplary ruler, Lodico warns us
that the character is destined to be killed by neighboring kings because of his religion.
This leaves the reader with a focus on negative examples of rulers – both within and
outside Christendom – and no concrete prospect for a more positive model projected
into the future.
The episodes in which Malaguerra is not involved in a contentious relationship
with either of the two emperors complete his portrayal as an exemplary knight in a
manner that could almost be described as hagiographic. One of these moments
highlights not only his unsurpassed military valor, but also his moral philosophy
regarding the principles and conditions of military engagement (chapter 9). When he
comes upon the Spanish Saracen king Marsilio on the verge of losing a battle and is
entreated to join him, «il valoroso Morbello» puts his sense of justice according to
natural law above any religious or national distinctions, asking whether the king is
defending right or wrong («volle conoscere se combattendo difendea la ragione, o pure
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il torto», II, 478).20 Even though Morbello is a Christian knight, he joins forces with the
Saracens after Marsilio assures him that he is acting against «gente ladra e traditrice».
After bringing about the victory with his prodigious valor, Morbello takes more than a
thousand prisoners and explicitly forbids any further bloodshed. When the Spaniards
disregard his order, the youth unhesitatingly takes up arms in defense of the defeated
population. Lodico underscores the youth’s ethical stance at every stage: if initially he
took up arms solely on behalf of justice and subsequently «vietò di più macchiare quel
suolo del sangue delle innocente vittime», he now admonishes the king «che era
disdicevole ad un monarca l’inveire contro il debole sesso».21 Rather than heed the
lesson, however, Marsilio and his troops proceed to assail the knight who had just saved
them from defeat. Despite the collective onslaught («tutti i cavalieri l’assalirono»),
Malaguerra succeeds in singlehandedly defeating Marsilio and several of his best
knights. When the king learns of the knight’s connection to Rinaldo, with great fear
(«gran paura») he throws himself as a supplicant at Malaguerra’s feet. After freeing
everyone from prison («fe’ trarre di prigione i mille che avea egli stesso posto in ceppi, e
colle donne e fanciulli li fe’ uscire da quella terra»),22 Malaguerra also departs because he
has learned not to trust Marsilio’s word («temendo che quel re crudelissimo gli avesse
fatto qualche tradimento»).
During his later travel from France to Trebizond, Malaguerra is the protagonist
of an episode that reinforces both his dedication to helping others («aiutar l’infelice è
mio costume», as he explains)23 and his disinterest in attaining political power (chapter
16). Passing through Macedonia, he comes to the aid of King Pigmalione whose
eyesight, hearing, and health could only be restored by drinking water from a certain
20
Ivi: 478.
Ibidem.
22
Ivi: 479.
23
Ivi: 526.
21
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fountain. Malaguerra accomplishes his task in quintessential chivalric fashion – by
slaying a «crudo serpe» who was guarding the source. Yet when the grateful sovereign
offers his entire realm and beautiful daughter to the hero in gratitude, Morbello refuses
the offer. His explanation draws attention to his desire to emulate Rinaldo who had
already turned down a thousand crowns: «mio padre mille e mille imprese ha superato e
mille corone gli sono state offerte, ma egli non ha mai abusato della gentillezza di coloro
che gliele hanno offerto; io vo’ seguire le orme del genitore».24 When the king hears the
name of Rinaldo, he confirms the rightness of Malaguerra’s attitude by calling the
famous Frankish paladin the «primo uomo del mondo». This is consistent with
Malaguerra’s later statements in Trebizond. After defeating the giant Ippalco and being
offered the hand of the princess and the future reign of the kingdom, he clarifies that
«non erasi battuto per acquistare quella monarchia, ma per far giustizia».25 When
subsequently proclaimed emperor, the youth initially wants to cede power to his father
who, consistent with his character, refuses. Tellingly, as noted above, we never see
Morbello carry out the role of ruler but are only warned of his subsequent murder. He
thus remains immortalized through his opposition to political power rather than his
exercise of it.
In designing Morbello’s trajectory, Lodico refashions and combines different
sources as well as relying on his own inventiveness. According to Anna Carocci, the
knight is based on three sixteenth-century characters: Mirabello in the anonymous
Ajolpho del Barbicone (1516), Ivonetto in Cieco da Ferrara’s Mambriano (1509), and
Palmerino in Lodovico Dolce’s Palmerino d'Oliva (1561).26 Noting that the three
24
Ivi: 531.
Ivi: 546.
26
CAROCCI 2019: 45. Although the Mambriano was an acknowledged source for Morbello’s early Arthurian-like adventures, Carocci’s study is the first to identify the Palmerino d'Oliva and to posit the Ajolpho
del Barbicone as sources for the character (46). For a comparison of the Morbello story to its sources, see
PASQUALINO 2018: 122-123; 125, n.; 126, n.; 138, n.; 145, n.; and CAROCCI 2019: 45-48.
25
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
characters used as precedents do not share any particular traits beyond their youth,
Carocci emphasizes how «mescolando e riscrivendo le loro storie e saldandole con
particolari di sua invenzione, Lodico ha saputo dar vita a una storia nuova».27 As a
result of this complex combinatory process, Carocci furthermore cites Morbello as the
best example of Lodico’s «meccanismi di montaggio» that go well beyond textual
variants or reelaborations within the confines of a single poem.28 Alessandro Napoli has
recently noted that Lodico, along with creatively combining certain plot lines, also
alludes to a whole range of additional texts in the construction of his hero. Remarking
on Lodico’s process of creative elaboration, Napoli maintains that Lodico
autonomously constructed the final parts of Malaguerra’s story «lavorando di
integrazioni e varianti a partire da tutti questi suggerimenti».29
The wealth of literary precedents that Lodico evokes for his character serves to
augment his heroic stature. In the Macedonian adventure, he is shown to be on par with
— indeed, superior to — famous classical heroes: the «mostro» he defeats is so large
that even Alexander of Macedonia and Artaxerxes with their infinite army («infinito
loro esercito») would have been destroyed in less than half an hour.30 Moving from
history to myth, Lodico later adds that the serpent is larger than the one Cadmus killed
at the fountain and no less fearsome than the ferocious Hydra defeated by Hercules.31
Nor does Lodico miss an occasion to show Morbello outdoing a Renaissance hero in
the same episode. If in the Orlando Furioso Astolfo restored Senapo’s eyesight and
allowed him to eat without the interruption of the Harpies, Morbello’s procuring of the
curative liquid cures Pigmalione’s blindness, deafness, and physical infirmity all in one
27
Ivi: 48.
Ivi: 45.
29
PASQUALINO 2018: 143, n.; 144, n.
30
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia, vol. II: 527.
31
Ivi: 529.
28
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fell swoop.32 Upon arriving at the shores of Trebizond, three fairies force him to choose
among them (putting him in the role of Paris vis-à-vis the three Greek goddesses). His
choice of Sordanella will lead to the birth of Ferabax (thus giving him an heir).
Morbello’s relation with this fairy also allows him to experience a quintessential episode
undergone by heroes from antiquity to the Renaissance: a romantic interlude with an
enticing female until he is called back to his destiny by a higher force. 33 Such a
concentration of romance and epic motifs all designed to bolster Morbello’s
preeminence make this character stand out even above the beloved heroes Rinaldo and
Orlando. Indeed, he even at one point appropriates Baiardo and Durlindana, the
famous horse and sword that in Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato King Gradasso of
Sericana had set out from East Asia to obtain. One might think at this point that
nothing else could be added to Lodico’s character, and yet another Sicilian author is
soon thereafter inspired to develop the anti-authoritarian elements of his story even
further.
GIUSEPPE LEGGIO’S EXTENDED VERSION OF THE STORIA DEI PALADINI DI FRANCIA
Lodico’s Storia dei paladini was so popular that Giuseppe Leggio (1870-1911) published
an edition with additional episodes in 1895-1896. This expanded edition is the one that
32
Ivi: 530-531.
In Morbello’s case, it is a voice that comes to him three times while he sleeps to admonish him not to
place love above glory and to pursue «quell’avventure che il cielo ti ha destinato» (Ivi: 537). For a comparison of various iterations of this classical episode from Cieco da Ferrara to Torquato Tasso, see CAVALLO
2004: 74-98, 158-228.
33
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
was reprinted in successive decades and right up to the twenty-first century.34 Alessandro
Napoli has pointed out that Leggio’s expanded version also contained additions to
Morbello’s story.35 I would like to argue that these additions are designed to bring further
attention to both the reprehensible behavior of Charlemagne and the parallels between
Rinaldo and his even more rebellious adopted son.
Leggio’s first substantial addition occurs in the very opening episode. Lodico had
prefaced Rinaldo’s discovery of the infant with a summary of how the knight instructed
his children on the need to be loved by both the people and Charlemagne and on the
prudence that every lord should show his subjects.36 This passage serves at least three
functions: first, it emphasizes that Rinaldo’s essential character is not that of a rebel but of
someone who respects both those below and above him in the hierarchy of power;
second, it portrays Rinaldo as a father who teaches conventional ethical values to his
children; and third, it provides a subtle but ironic reminder that the ultimate figure of
authority, Charlemagne, fails to abide by these principles vis-à-vis his subjects. Leggio,
depensing with the subtleties, invents a completely new episode that reminds the reader
just how far the emperor is from such an ideal.
Before recounting the discovery of Morbello, Leggio describes how festivities in
Paris escalate into an actual physical brawl between Rinaldo and Charlemagne. First Gano
blames Rinaldo for a vengeful joke that Astolfo played against the Magonza clan which
consisted in the Saracen Ferraù beating them up upon their entrance. When Ferraù
subsequently departs for Spain without taking official leave of the emperor, Gano
For the Storia dei paladini’s publication history, see PASQUALINO 2018: 19, n. All references to Leggio’s
version in this essay are from the recent and readily available reprinting, LODICO, Storia dei paladini di
Francia [Cammarata].
35
Alessandro Napoli’s notes on the character can be found in PASQUALINO 2018: 125, n.; 126, n.; 138, n.; 145, n.
36
«Rinaldo […] ebbe istruiti i figliuoli di quanto facea uopo per essere amati dai popoli e da Carlo, ed inculcando loro quella prudenza che ogni signore dee sempre mostrare ai sudditi» (LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia, vol. II: 408).
34
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instigates Charlemagne against Rinaldo by claiming that he condoned this gesture of
disrepect. After a heated exchange in which Rinaldo repays Gano’s insults with a blow
that knocks him down, Charlemagne responds by throwing a chair at Rinaldo, who
likewise falls to the floor. Rinaldo’s retaliation against the emperor bears citation:
«divenne un fulmine e cieco di rabbia percosse l’imperatore con tanto furore che se non
fosse stato pronto a saltare dal trono sarebbe rimasto ucciso».37 After this near regicide,
Charlemagne exiles Rinaldo from all of Christendom, including from the knight’s own
property in Montalbano (in southern France). Although Orlando tells Rinaldo that «è
dovere di un suddito obbedire ai comandi del suo signore», he then compels
Charlemagne to mitigate the penalty to banishment from Paris and threatens to take up
arms against the emperor should he disturb Rinaldo on his home turf («se volete irritarlo
anche nel suo castello, la mia spada sarà in sua difesa»).38
In Leggio’s version, moreover, Rinaldo subsequently encounters Ferraù in
Morbello. When he informs the Spanish knight of the incident, the latter proposes to
head to Paris to kill Charlemagne. It is immediately after Rinaldo turns down Ferraù’s
offer that the fisherman approaches them with a baby who, he explains, is alive because a
seacaptain refused to carry out «un atto così attroce» as the murder ordered by the baby’s
father.39 It will only become clear subsequently that Rinaldo’s fight with the emperor was
a foreshadowing of Morbello’s own hostilities involving figures who abuse their political
power – beginning with Charlemagne himself. Leggio also takes advantage of Rinaldo’s
exile to inform readers that the knight «godeva a Montalbano il riposo dalle armi» and
took pleasure in hunting with the wizard Malagigi, who also had fun with Morbello.40
Thus, rather than mentioning the lack of newsworthy activities in Paris, Leggio suggests
37
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia [Cammarata], vol. VI: 9.
Ivi: 10.
39
Ivi: 11.
40
Ivi: 13.
38
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an idyllic formative period during the boy’s childhood, at least until Rinaldo’s next
conflict with Charlemagne (which, incidentally, does not take long to occur in this
compilation).
Leggio’s second addition brings us to the heart of Morbello’s sequence at the
Frankish court and takes his conflict with Charlemagne to a new and unprecedented
height. Whereas in Lodico’s original version Morbello leaves Paris at Orlando’s urging and
is next encountered in Macedonia, Leggio’s character returns instead to Montalbano
«con il cuore gonfio di vendetta».41 Morbello originally seeks his father’s help, but upon
hearing that Rinaldo is away, he proceeds to assault Paris with Rinaldo’s seven hundred
retainers. With Orlando also away, Morbello defeats the defending paladins one by one
until the emperor himself is forced to take up arms. Before engaging in combat,
Charlemagne threatens to have Morbello killed «per essere stato ribelle alla sua corona».42
In response, Morbello proclaims himself a sovereign individual not subject to anyone: «Io
non sono soggetto a nessuno». Morbello’s statement of complete self-sovereignty in one
sentence negates the entire political structure that makes the ruler the arbiter of justice and
controller of individual lives.43 Although both have faith that God will ensure their
victory, the knight unhorses the emperor at the first impact of his lance. Refusing to hand
over Gano, Charlemagne becomes Morbello’s prisoner.
Astolfo, who had previously declared his support for Morbello’s actions, now
advises the youth to take the emperor and the captured paladins to Montalbano and
imprison them in Rinaldo’s castle. When Rinaldo returns home and hears the news, his
first reaction is to laugh.44 Yet he reprimands his son for his reckless action that could
bring Charlemagne’s ire down upon him. When Morbello states «io ho agito
41
Ivi, vol. VII: 15.
Ivi: 18.
43
For a theoretical elaboration of a natural law based concept of self-sovereignty and self-ownership, see
ROTHBARD 1998.
44
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia [Cammarata], vol. VII: 19.
42
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Jo Ann Cavallo
giustamente» and recounts the events, Rinaldo «comprese che Morbello avea ragione».
Nonetheless, Rinaldo drags Morbello back to the prison, releases Charlemagne, and bids
his son to kneel before the emperor and ask his forgiveness. Morbello, however, bites
Charlemagne’s hand instead. At this point an angry Rinaldo imprisons his son and hands
over the keys to Charlemagne, who returns to Paris. Even though Rinaldo elsewhere in
the poem openly rebels against Charlemagne, here his acquiescence to authority puts into
relief Morbello’s unconditional pursuit of justice.
Preferring death to captivity, Morbello takes action by refusing to eat. Rinaldo
obtains the keys from the emperor with the condition that Morbello not return to Paris.
Although the youth promises Rinaldo to abide by this restriction, upon his release he
wastes no time in devising a new plan. This time he no longer seeks to rely on his father’s
men, but rather places posters throughout the forest announcing the recruitment of
troops to dethrone Charlemagne. Rinaldo is initially enraged by Morbello’s rebellious
actions since he expects to bear the brunt of Charlemagne’s rage, and he races through the
woods poised to kill his son for such disobedience. As Morbello waits for recruits,
Malagigi takes on the voice of destiny and commands him to flee to avoid being killed by
his father. When Bradamante catches up with Rinaldo, she convinces him to compel
Morbello to reconcile with Charlemagne instead. As we know, this will not happen, as the
youth is on his way east.
Leggio’s further development of the episode underscores Morbello’s uniqueness
in remaining true to his principles. Unlike the other paladins who repeatedly forgive the
emperor and his evil counselor throughout the work, Morbello distinguishes himself as a
character who adamantly refuses to reconcile with Charlemagne until Gano has been
punished for his treachery. He is unwilling to compromise his principle of self-sovereignty
or his desire for justice even if it means disobeying his beloved father or starving himself to
death in prison. Moreover, in Leggio’s version, Orlando does not simply leave the court
due to anger at Charlemagne, as he does in Lodico, but he leaves Europe precisely in order
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to reconcile Rinaldo with his son: «ebbe pietà del giovanetto e deliberò andare in cerca di
lui e fare il possibile per conciliarlo con Rinaldo».45 The presence of Rinaldo, and indeed
the tension between the two, allows for the pattern of conflict and reconciliation to take
place – if not between the young knight and the emperor in Paris, as noted above, at least
between father and son on the northern shore of Turkey.
SCRIPTS OF THE CATANESE-AMERICAN PUPPETEER AGRIPPINO MANTEO
While some puppeteers continued to use Lodico, many others adopted Leggio’s extended
version.46 Either way, the Storia dei paladini became the authoritative source for puppet
theater throughout Sicily as well as in southern Italy and wherever puppeteers
immigrated. Since this third-person narration could not be staged directly, puppeteers
created their own scripts (canovacci or copioni), writing out the location, setting,
characters, division of the action into acts and scenes, stage directions, and some direct
dialogue. These documents can provide a window into the presentation of Morbello in
traditional opera dei pupi. The set of scripts I examine below belonged to the puppeteer
Agrippino Manteo (1884-1947).47 These scripts not only maintain the anti-authoritarian
thrust of Morbello’s story, but employ narrative and theatrical means to further develop
the parallel between Malaguerra and Rinaldo and to intensify the sense of collective
resistance to the emperors Charlemagne and Arismondo.
45
Ivi: 24.
For an in-depth comparison of several puppet theater scripts to their sources, see CAROCCI 2019: 135-254.
47
Agrippino Manteo’s scripts were donated to the Italian American Museum in New York by his descendants
and should soon be made available on both the museum’s website and “eBOIARDO” (see the following link
for more information and updates: <https://edblogs.columbia.edu/eboiardo/manteo-puppet-theater>). I am
grateful to the Italian American Museum for access to these scripts. Without access to other puppet theater
46
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Born in the province of Catania and apprenticed to the puparo Giuseppe Crimi
in his youth, Agrippino Manteo performed the history of the Paladins of France and
other chivalric works in nightly segments between 1923 and 1939 in New York City’s
Little Italy with the assistance of his wife and children. His extant scripts follow Giuseppe
Leggio’s extended retelling, most likely the edition published by Bideri in Naples in 1909
that his descendants have inherited. The three notebooks that contain plays featuring
Malaguerra display the character’s name prominently on the cover: «Rinaldo acquista
Malaguerra», «Pipino figlio di Carlo uccide Baldovino. Sino Le avventure di
Malaguerra» and «Cominciando con aventure di Malaguerra. Sino Orlando in Albracca»
(see Figures 2-3 for the latter two).
Figure 2. Agrippino Manteo, script #10, Paladini di Francia, serata 129 to 147. «Pipino figlio di Carlo uccide Baldovino. Sino le
avventure di Malaguerra»
Figure 3. Agrippino Manteo, script #11, Paladini di Francia, serata 147 to 165. «Cominciando con aventure di Malaguerra. Sino
Orlando in Albracca»
scripts, I am not able to ascertain the degree of originality in Manteo’s rendition. The discussion in this section
therefore simply treats his plays as one concrete example of the opera dei pupi tradition.
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Morbello’s story begins in serata 116 with his infancy. Although Leggio added an
episode in Paris reinforcing Charlemagne’s unjust treatment of Rinaldo, as noted
above, he followed Lodico in delaying the specific details of Malaguerra’s origins until
the denouement. In introducing Morbello into his cycle, Manteo completely overhauls
this narrative structure by revealing the hero’s backstory right from the very beginning.
Although this does away with the suspense, it allows the puppeteer to dramatically
juxtapose and alternate events in France and Trebizond. This synchroncity not only
affects the temporal understanding of events, but underscores their share thematic
concerns as well. The succession of scenes connects Rinaldo and Morbello as victims of
imperial authority even before their fates are joined in southern Spain.
The parallels between the two stories are carefully underscored throughout this
play through the technique of interlacing. Arimondo orders his infant son’s death while
Charlemagne orders the banishment of Rinaldo from all of Christendom. In both cases,
the harm is mitigated through the intervention of a third party, the former’s wife and
the latter’s nephew, respectively. Near the conclusion of the play, Manteo juxtaposes
two scenes taking place in Paris and Trebizond: in the first, Gano plots to kill Rinaldo
(«Gano cerca il mezzo come far morire Rinaldo», Act 3, scene 3), and in the second,
Arimondo gets the news that his baby has been killed («Arimondo riceve il capitano
dice che il bambino è morto», Act 3, scene 4). These close parallels between the
Frankish knight under attack and his soon-to-be adopted son narrowly escaping death,
all concentrated in the space of one evening, prefigure their shared roles and highlight
the dark side of state power across borders right from Morbello’s first appearance in the
cycle.
The sequence beginning with Morbello’s conflict with Gano and Charlemagne
and culminating with his incoronation as emperor of Trebizond provides the narrative
material for nine consecutive plays (from serata 143 to serata 151). In the four plays
that stage the events in France, Manteo closely follows Leggio but adds some of his own
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Jo Ann Cavallo
touches. For example, whereas in the Storia dei paladini nobody will attempt to follow
Charlemagne’s order to arrest Orlando, Manteo imagines instead that the emperor calls
upon the Mangonzesi clan. This would have given him the opportunity to stage a battle
between Orlando and Gano’s relatives (serata 145, Act 1, scene 3) before Charlemagne
is arrested by his own soldiers in the following scene.
Before bringing the events in France to a conclusion, Manteo develops a scene
that further reduces the tensions between Rinaldo and his adopted son. Even though
serata 147 finds Malaguerra already in Macedonia, the play opens with Bradamante
catching up with Rinaldo in France. Whereas Leggio had written that «tanto disse
Bradamante che alla fine calmò il fratello»,48 Manteo actually reports Bradamante’s
speech in which she states that Morbello is, after all, in the right: «infine ha raggione»
(Act 1, scene 1). Although these words are not in the printed version, they echo the
wording from various other moments in the text in which characters comment on
whether Morbello is in the right to act as he does.49
After the intervening episode in Macedonia which serves as both a divider and a
mid-point, the sequence of plays recounting Malaguerra’s eventful return to Trebizond
is elaborated over the course of four evenings (serata 148 to serata 151), thus creating a
structural balance by mirroring the inital four in France. Here, too, Manteo finds a way
to intensify the underlying themes. When in the Storia dei paladini Arismondo plans to
hand Morbello over to the five kings, the news travels from his wife and daughter to the
rest of the population. The puppeteer, rather than simply relating the passing of the
news, devises a new scene in which first his wife reproaches him («lo rimprovera») and
subsequently his daughter curses at him («impreca»). Arimondo’s intransigence
48
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia [Cammarata], vol. VII: 24.
Orlando, for example, tells Morbello «hai ragione» for defending himself against Gano and his men who
tried to arrest him in his bedroom (serata 144, Act 3, scene 4), and the knight Ugiero explains to Charlemagne that Orlando stopped them from arresting Morbello because the youth «ha raggione» (serata 145,
Act 1, scene 2).
49
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
appears all the more reprehensible when he is shown dismissing and denying the pleas of
his closest family members. The emperor does not attempt to justify his predicament or
show signs of conflicted emotions, but rather asserts his power with an attitude of
intransigence. Act One concludes indicating that Arimondo, «irremovibile, dice che
aspetta i re per farlo morire» (serata 149, Act 1, scene 7).
When it seems that nothing can stop Arimondo from committing such an
injustice, Act 2 opens depicting the initiative of the local population to help the
innocent foreigner. In the first scene, the innkeeper sets out to find Rinaldo upon
hearing the news of Malaguerra’s arrest. In the second, an angry crowd heads to the
palace to demand Malaguerra’s release. Manteo gives Lodico’s generic «popolo» the
more specific contours of «popolani e popolane», enumerating the various domestic
items and farming tools with which they are armed: «armati chi di scopa chi di pala chi
di scure chi di frecce ed altro» (serata 151, Act I, scene 2). Since this is not a narrative to
be read by the public but rather a pro memoria for the puppeteer, the listing of brooms,
shovels, axes, arrows, and other objects gives a sense of the scale of the uprising to be
staged.50 In a form of theater in which most characters are perennially dressed in armor,
the visual impact of civilian characters of a lower social status wielding everyday objects
as weapons against an emperor must have made the scene all the more impactful.
In serata 150, Manteo once again uses interlacing to create a thematic parallel
between the events in France and Trebizond. Between the first two scenes of Act 1 in
which Arimondo sets into motion his plan to poison the five kings and the fourth scene
in which the poisoned kings fall to their death and Malaguerra slays the emperor,
Manteo takes us back to Paris. In this intermediate scene, Gano engages in a monologue
in which he reveals his murderous intentions vis-à-vis Rinaldo: «Ho mandato delle spie
50
In the list of characters preceding the play, Manteo had already indicated the props: «popolani e popolane armati di frecce, scope, bastoni, pale e scure». Although the order is different, the replication of the
same objects suggests that they were all used for the scene in question.
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per scoprire Rinaldo e farlo morire in qualche agguato, ma non mi è mai riuscito di
vedere la fine del ladrone».
In the final evening of the sequence, Manteo enacts two changes to complete
the story’s happy ending. Whereas the Storia dei paladini waits until the paladins have
returned to France before recounting the arrival of Rosana in Trebizond, Manteo
brings Morbello’s fiancée onto the stage earlier so as to celebrate the wedding and the
incoronation in the same scene (serata 151, Act 2, scene 1). And whereas Lodico and
Leggio provided a flashforward anticipating Morbello’s tragic demise, Manteo leaves
the characters to enjoy this moment of reunion and recognition unmarred by future
evils.
RECOLLECTIONS OF PUPPETEERS AND CONTEMPORARY SICILIAN PUPPET THEATER
Thanks to the Storia dei paladini and traditional puppet theater, both Morbello and
Malaguerra were household names in Sicily and beyond for over a century. The
character was not only well-known, but also well-liked.51 Alessandro Napoli (Catania)
remembers that Malaguerra, «in quanto replica “amplificata” di Rinaldo, riscuoteva
fortissime simpatie presso il pubblico tradizionale dell’Opira».52 He further notes how
Rosario Napoli’s poster from 1928-1929 [Figure 4] announcing the deadly banquet
scene in Trebizond focuses on the decapitation of Arismondo, «dando rilievo al valore
guerriero di Malaguerra, che continua a combattere benché ferito alle spalle». 53 The late
puppeteer Enzo Rossi (Monreale) names Malaguerra – along with Rinaldo and the
Indeed, Carocci calls him «un personaggio amatissimo dell’opera dei pupi» citing Felice Cammarata’s
characterization of him as the «idolo dei ragazzini» (CAROCCI 2019: 46).
52
Alessandro Napoli, email communication, April 8, 2018.
53
Alessandro Napoli, description of Rosario Napoli’s painting Morbello Malaguerra / uccide suo padre
(1928-1929 ca.). Catania, Collezione Marionettistica dei fratelli Napoli.
51
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
Saracen Ferraù – as a favorite hero, singling him out as «un personaggio che faceva
simpatia» and recalling his rebellious nature («durante la sua giovinezza era un
ribelle»), exemplified by his splitting Charlemagne’s throne in two and wounding the
treacherous Gano in the face.54 The puppeteer Onofrio Sanicola (Marineo/Milan), in
affirming that «Malaguerra fu molto famoso all’inizio del secolo in quanto classificato
come ribelle in positivo», recalls that one of his uncles used the nickname Malaguerra,
a label that he extended to his group of close friends.55 Sanicola, in fact, possesses a
photograph of the group with a sign reading «La banda Malaguerra dopo la battuta»
[Figure 5]. Mimmo Cuticchio (Palermo) recalls that his mother used to call him
Malaguerra as a nickname while he was growing up.56
Figure 4. Rosario Napoli, Morbello Malaguerra / uccide suo
padre, Catania, Collezione Marionettistica dei fratelli Napoli,
(1928-1929 ca.)
Figure 5. «La banda Malaguerra
dopo la battuta». Photograph of
Onofrio Sanicola's uncle with his
group of friends called “la banda
Malaguerra”
ROSSI, Interview 2: 41:43-42:40. Rossi’s recollection of two moments not in the Storia dei paladini – i.e.,
Rinaldo’s splitting of Charlemagne’s throne and slashing of Gano’s face – serves to indicate that Agrippino
Manteo was not the only puppeteer who elaborated on Morbello’s story.
55
Onofrio Sanicola, email communication, April 6, 2018.
56
Mimmo Cuticchio, in-person communication, Urbana, Illinois, October 29, 2018.
54
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Jo Ann Cavallo
Malaguerra can still be found in the puppet collections of contemporary Sicilian
puppeteers. Franco Cuticchio (Palermo) notes that his Malaguerra puppet [Figure 6] is
currently used in the role of Rinaldo. Perhaps the puppets are considered
interchangeable because their characters are so alike. Cuticchio, in fact, describes
Malaguerra as «un personaggio valoroso e astuto come il padre Rinaldo» and points
out that the entire tragedy of Roncesvaux could have been avoided if Charlemagne had
just listened to Malaguerra: «Se Carlomagno avesse ascoltato Malaguerra che voleva
Gano di Magonza perché aveva capito che era un traditore, i paladini non venivano
uccisi».57 In 2019 the puppeteer Salvatore Oliveri (Alcamo) constructed a handsome
new Malaguerra puppet [Figure 7] to replace one he had recently sold. In accounting
for the traditional public’s affection for the character, Oliveri explains:
La cosa che più colpisce in questo personaggio è che crescendo molto somiglia a Rinaldo.
Lui è dotato di una forza straordinaria, è un avventuriero, dove mette piede non cresce
l’erba, sembra suo padre giovane. Ecco perché il personaggio è molto amato dal pubblico
di allora.58
Morbello has also recently returned as a protagonist to the Sicilian puppet theater stage,
albeit without overt political undertones. The puppeteer Enzo Mancuso (Palermo), in
developing his offerings beyond the customary plays based on Boiardo, Ariosto, and
Pulci regularly staged in recent decades, has added Morbello distrugge l’incanto della
maga Uriella to his repertory. For the occasion, in 2005, together with Antonino
Guarino, he constructed an attractive Morbello puppet with blue trimmings [Figure 8].
Mancuso states in the program notes that he freely adapted the play from «antichi
canovacci», presumably the traditional scripts used by the puppeteers in his own
57
58
Franco Cuticchio, Facebook message, November 19, 2019.
Salvatore Olivieri, Email communication, October 3, 2019.
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
family. The episode corresponds to Morbello’s early exploits in the Storia dei paladini
and the traditional puppet theater cycle: falling in love with Rosana, taking on the name
of Malaguerra, attaining his armor in a magic adventure, participating incognito in (and
winning) his first joust, stealing Orlando’s sword, and, finally, liberating his fellow
knights from the enchantment of Uriella and revealing his identity to Rinaldo.
Figure 6. Morbello/Malaguerra Figure 7. Morbello/Malaguerra puppet Figure 8. Morbello/Malaguerra puppet
puppet constructed by Franco constructed by Salvatore Olivieri (Al- constructed by Enzo Mancuso and
Antonino Guarino (Palermo) in 2005
Cuticchio (Palermo)
camo) in 2019
for the play Morbello distrugge l'incanto della maga Uriella
NORTHERN ITALY
The Storia dei paladini and its eventual sequels circulated in print not only within the
island, but also in northern Italy and even in the New World. In at least one instance,
moreover, chivalric works published in Sicily reached northern Italy after having first
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Jo Ann Cavallo
crossed the Atlantic Ocean from New York City.59 Thanks to printed editions, the
work entered the repertory of an independent folk performance tradition in northern
Italy based largely on chivalric epics, the epic maggio sung in the Tuscan-Emilian
Apennines. 60 The character thus became the protagonist of a number of dramatic plays
in the epic maggio tradition. Giacomo Alberghi (1875-1944), a prominent maggio
author from the Reggio Emilia province, composed a maggio entitled Morbello that was
sung in Cervarolo (RE). Two separate maggi with the name of Morbello are attributed
to Michele Costi (1868-1942), another Reggio Emilian maggio author whose plays
include a Rinaldo appassionato and Orlando Furioso.61 Given that the epic maggio
typically pits good against evil, with evildoers almost invariably punished or expelled, it
is not surprising that Morbello’s story should have found its way into the tradition’s
repertory. Unfortunately, however, at present further study of Morbello in the maggio
tradition is thwarted by the fact that none of these plays are known to be extant.
There is also evidence that Morbello found favor in other regions of northern
Italy outside the context of the epic maggio. Giovanni Kezich notes that the Tuscan
peasant poet Morbello Vergari, son of an impoverished farmer turned miner, was given
his first name by his parents (i.e., as a birth name, not a nickname) in the early twentieth
century. Removing any doubt regarding the reference to Lodico’s character is the fact
that one of Morbello’s brothers was named Orlando. Kezich reflects on the logic
beyond this unusual occurrence:
A chi, oggi, potrebbe mai saltare in testa di marcare a vita un figliolo con un nome del
genere? Ma per un contadino del tutto diseredato fattosi poi minatore per dura necessità
come il padre di Morbello, in una maremma di butteri e briganti che nel 1920 è ancora
59
CAVALLO 2005: 53-55.
For more on the epic maggio tradition and its relation to puppet theater, see CAVALLO 2002-2004.
61
VEZZANI 1992: 366, 369 and 405.
60
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
praticamente un far west, la saga già un po’ incartapecorita dei paladini evidentemente
esercita ancora un suo fascino elementare.62
What indeed could have inspired a farmer-turned-miner to name his biological son after
a character who killed his father with his sword? It may not have been only the Far West
features of the Maremma region. After all, there are many worthy names of paladins
from which to choose. Could it have been that Mr. Vergari felt a particular affinity to
the more political aspects of Morbello’s character? Although we will never know the
story behind his particular choice, there is evidence that at least the puppet theater
culture that celebrated Morbello was characterized as spreading a climate of resistance
to political authority.
POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS
As Pasqualino has pointed out, «a Napoli e in Sicilia fin dal secolo scorso molti
osservatori hanno notato l’importanza dell’aspetto sovversivo della Storia dei
paladini».63 In the late nineteenth century a polemic arose in the newspapers in which
puppeteers were accused of planting the seeds of sedition. Rinaldo was singled out as
especially dangerous, but the accusary remarks could be partially applied to his adopted
son as well: «Di Rinaldi malandrini e ladri, di Rinaldi ribelli ed assassini e di quelle
madornali assurdità che fanno perdere perfino la divina particula, avea bisogno solo il
medio evo».64 In response to this allied attempt by the local press and government to
close down puppet theaters, the eminent Sicilian ethnographer Giuseppe Pitré defended
62
KEZICH 2006: 14.
PASQUALINO 1977: 116.
64
Quoted in PITRÉ 1884: 271.
63
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the tradition, asserting that the chivalric masterpieces staged in the plays inspired, on the
contrary, ethical behaviour and valorous action.65 Although Pitré was no doubt correct
about the genre’s didactic intention, the political powers of the time were also not
mistaken in sensing the insurrectionary potential of the narratives performed.
One might thus be tempted to equate the creation of Morbello and the overall
political undercurrent of the Storia dei paladini with the revolutionary stirrings of the
period given that the compilation was published just prior to the Unification of Italy in
1861 and retained its popularity in the following decades. Yet historical circumstance
alone cannot provide a complete answer since the anti-state vicissitudes of Morbello
only bring into greater relief a skeptical attitude toward political power already present
in various of the medieval and Renaissance chivalric poems that Lodico adapted. In
Luigi Pulci’s Morgante, for example, Charlemagne is in continuous contention with his
paladins. Early on he offends Orlando, precipitating the latter’s departure from Paris.
Subsequently, he orders the successive executions of Astolfo and Ricciardetto, both of
whom are rescued from the scaffold at the last minute by Rinaldo, the knight most
consistently set in opposition to the emperor.66 In Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato,
Charlemagne unjustly leaves Astolfo to rot in prison after the latter’s altercation with
the Magonza clan. Upon his unexpected release following Gradasso’s invasion of Paris,
the paladin repudiates the Frankish court and heads east in search of Orlando.67 More
broadly, Boiardo warns readers at the outset of his poem that it is a tendency of those in
power to recklessly put their entire realms in danger in a vain attempt to satisfy their
unlimited craving: «E sì como egli advien a’ gran signori / Che pur quel voglion che
While dismissing accusations of the genre’s potential seditiousness, Pitré also discredited the journalists
by branding them as an overly sensitive fourth branch of the state («i delicati nervi di qualche rappresentante del quarto potere dello Stato»). Ivi: 270.
66
For the critique of political power from Pulci’s Morgante to Sicilian puppet theater, see CAVALLO 2017.
67
For the political implications of this episode, see CAVALLO 2013: 38-41.
65
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
non pòno avere, / E quanto son difficultà magiori / La disiata cosa ad otenere, /
Pongono il regno spesso in grandi erori, / Né posson quel che voglion possedere».68
Another reason that the anti-state sentiment detected in late-nineteenth
century puppet theater cannot be confined to the period of Unification is the fact that
it was still prevalent among puppeteers and their public in the second half of the
twentieth century. Interviews that Pasqualino carried out in the post-World War II
period demonstrate the extent to which the genre’s potential to critique political power
was consciously understood by puppeteers themselves: «Il discredito del potere […] si è
accentuato in questo dopoguerra».69 As one puppeteer declared in an interview,
Charlemagne was the character most hated by the public next to the universally
despised traitor Gano. Puppeteers and their public could surmise that the emperor
invariably allied himself with his evil counselor not only because the two were related by
marriage, «ma anche perché Gano è molto ricco e fornisce l’oro necessario a
governare».70
Behind the memorable deeds of Morbello and the objectionable actions of
Charlemagne, Gano, and Arismondo, their narratives embody universal political issues.
At stake in the conflict are central questions of individual rights, justice, and political
accountability. The repeated mistakes made by the two emperors underscore how
political power may exascerbate weakness of judgment, corruption, intransigence, and
bias. The hero’s fundamental belief in his self-sovereignty as an individual challenges the
pretensions of the ruler to be obeyed even when acting unethically. The staging of
Morbello’s conflictual situations in both Christian France and Saracen Trebizond
demonstrates, moreover, that the political issues raised by the narrative transcend
68
BOIARDO, Orlando Innamorato [Canova], I I 5.
PASQUALINO 1977: 117. Pasqualino’s chapter entitled Ideologia dell’opra provides a more extensive
treatment of ideology in Sicilian puppet theater, including his division of conflict into Christian-Saracen,
convert-traitor, and sovereign-rebel (108-131).
70
Ivi: 118.
69
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Jo Ann Cavallo
cultural, religious, and geographical differences. The various reactions – from
remonstrances to the withdrawal of consent to outright rebellion – on the part of
vassals and the general population offer scenarios in which abusive power is contested
by third parties. Indeed, Morbello receives even more help from the general population
(the innkeeper and both male and female commoners) in a land where he is a stranger
than on his own home turf. The underlying assumption is an irreconcilability between a
natural law with a shared understanding of right and wrong behavior, on the one hand,
and the autarchic decrees pronounced by an absolute political authority, on the other.
Although Morbello’s story presents the dark side of political power, his
foretold murder by neighboring kings does not offer a positive model. Looking ahead in
the Storia dei paladini, however, Rinaldo will provide that model when he temporarily
becomes the emperor of Trebizond after Morbello’s death. After having refused to rule
a thousand times, according to Morbello, Rinaldo demonstrates a different model of
governance in Trebizond by acting on behalf of the inhabitants rather than subjugating
them. Upon learning of his wife Clarice’s death in a Frankish prison, the grieving
widower decides to return to the life of a pilgrim and is concerned that Trebizond
remain in that liberty («in quella libertà») in which he leaves it, even promising the
inhabitants that – should he ever reconcile with Charlemagne – he would return «più
per custodire i vostri diritti anzicché imperare».71 Tellingly, in stark contrast with
Charlemagne’s abuse of power and Gano’s scheming, not one of the nobles wants to
assume the crown of Trebizond: «di tutta la signoria niuno volle prendere la corona».72
71
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia [Cammarata], vol. VII: 258. Here I cite from the readily available
recent edition of the Storia dei paladini.
72
Ibidem. Napoli compares this scene in the Storia dei paladini to the original poem Trabisonda (PASQUALINO 2018 [Napoli], 316n). This chapter of Rinaldo’s chivalric career merits further attention.
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Malaguerra’s trajectory provides a compelling fictional example of a heroic character
fighting against the injustices perpetrated by those wielding political power. His
presence thus reminds us that Sicilian puppet theater was not simply a chivalric soap
opera for the masses before the advent of television, but could also be a vehicle to
express a critical attitude toward the state under the cover of dramatizing medieval and
Renaissance canonical epics. Indeed, it may be that puppet theater’s political
undercurrent contributed to its massive popularity for over a century in southern Italy
and among Italian immigrants in urban centers of the New World. It certainly does not
seem a coincidence that the character most beloved by the traditional puppet theater
public, Morbello’s adoptive father Rinaldo, was also the one who most consistently and
prominently plays out the opposition between individual rights and unwarrantable
state power. Both the Storia dei paladini and Sicilian puppet theater, moreover, are part
of the larger genre of epic and thus these episodes are a reminder that epic narratives do
not necessarily glorify the military victory of one’s people over a fearsome and often
demonized foreign other, but may express a wide range of positions, including a critical
eye toward political power across cultures.73
73
A shorter version of this essay, with the same title, was presented at the Libertarian Scholars Conference
held in 2018 in New York City and sponsored by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
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Jo Ann Cavallo
REFERENCES
PRIMARY SOURCES
BOIARDO, Orlando Innamorato [Canova] = Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando
Innamorato. L’inamoramento de Orlando, a cura di Andrea Canova, 2 voll.,
Milano, BUR, 2011.
LA BOETIE, Discours de la servitude volontaire [Bayard] = Étienne de La Boétie,
Discours de la servitude volontaire, présenté par Françoise Bayard, Paris,
Imprimerie Nationale, 1992.
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia = Giusto Lodico, La storia dei paladini di
Francia cominciando da Milone conte d’Anglante sino alla morte di Rinaldo, 4
voll., Palermo, Gaudiano, 1858-1860.
Storia dei paladini di Francia [Cammarata] = Giusto Lodico, Storia dei
LODICO,
paladini di Francia, a cura di Felice Cammarata, 13 voll., Catania, Clio Brancato, 1993-2000.
LODICO, Storia dei paladini di Francia [Leggio] = Giusto Lodico, Storia dei paladini
di Francia cominciando da Re Pipino fino alla morte di Rinaldo, a cura di e
con aggiunte di Giuseppe Leggio, 3 voll., Palermo, Giuseppe Leggio, 18951896.
ROSSI, Interview 2 = Enzo Rossi, Interview 2, in “eBOIARDO”, <https://edblogs.
columbia.edu/eboiardo/interview-with-enzo-rossi/>.
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Malaguerra: The anti-state super-hero of Sicilian Puppet Theater
SECONDARY SOURCES
CAROCCI 2019 = Anna Carocci, Il poema che cammina: La letteratura cavalleresca
nell’opera dei pupi, Palermo, Museo Pasqualino, 2019.
CAVALLO 2002-2004 = Jo Ann Cavallo, L’Opera dei Pupi e il Maggio epico: due
tradizioni a confronto, in «Archivio antropologico mediterraneo», V/VII
(2002-2004), 157-170.
CAVALLO 2004 = Jo Ann Cavallo, The Romance Epics of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso:
From Public Duty to Private Pleasure, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,
2004.
CAVALLO 2005 = Jo Ann Cavallo, La Bibbia dei Pupari nella Terra del Maggio: La
Storia dei Paladini di Francia ed altre edizioni cavalleresche popolari siciliane
nella tradizione maggistica tosco-emiliana, in «Il Cantastorie», s. III, XLIII, 68
(gennaio-giugno 2005), 53-55.
2013 = Jo Ann Cavallo, The World beyond Europe in the Romance Epics of
CAVALLO
Boiardo and Ariosto, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2013.
CAVALLO 2017 = Jo Ann Cavallo, The Ideological Battle of Roncevaux: The Critique of
Political Power from Pulci’s “Morgante” to Sicilian Puppet Theatre Today, in
Luigi Pulci in Renaissance Florence and Beyond, edited by James K. Coleman
and Andrea Moudarres, Turnhout, Brepols, 2017, 209-232.
CROCE 2014 = Marcella Croce, The Chivalric Folk Tradition in Sicily: A History of
Storytelling, Puppetry, Painted Carts and Other Arts, Jefferson (North
Carolina), McFarland, 2014.
KEZICH 2006 = Giovanni Kezich, Del nome di Morbello e di alcuni libri vecchi e nuovi,
in Morbello Vergari scrittore e poeta di Maremma, a cura di Corrado Barontini,
Alessandro Giustarini, Nanni Vergari, Arcidosso, Effigi, 2006, 14-16.
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MCCORMICK - CIPOLLA - NAPOLI 2011 = John McCormick, Alfonso Cipolla and
Alessandro Napoli, The Italian Puppet Theatre: A History, Jefferson (North
Carolina), McFarland, 2011.
PASQUALINO 1977 = Antonio Pasqualino, L’Opera dei Pupi, Palermo, Sellerio, 1977.
PASQUALINO 1992 = Antonio Pasqualino, Le vie del cavaliere dall’epica medievale alla
cultura popolare, Milano, Bompiani, 1992.
PASQUALINO
2018 = Antonio Pasqualino, Rerum palatinorum fragmenta, a cura di
Alessandro Napoli, Palermo, Edizioni Museo Pasqualino, 2020.
PITRÉ 1884 = Giuseppe Pitré, La letteratura cavalleresca popolare in Sicilia, in
«Romania» XIII (1884), 315-398 [ora in PITRÉ 1993, vol. I, 119-336].
PITRÉ 1993 = Giuseppe Pitré, Usi e costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del popolo siciliano, 4
voll., Catania, Clio, 1993.
ROTHBARD 1998 = Murray Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty, New York, New York
University Press, 1998 [I ed. 1982].
1992 = Giorgio Vezzani, Gli autori del maggio drammatico. Dizionario bio-
VEZZANI
bibliografico, in Il maggio drammatico. Una tradizione di teatro in musica, a
cura di Tullia Magrini, Bologna, Analisi, 1992, 352-406.
294