valores patrimonio del UNESCO: ITALY

Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian Puppet Theatre
Inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2001)
Description

Mainly based in Palermo and Catania, the Opera dei Pupi had its heyday in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The puppeteers show great mastery in bringing characters of medieval chivalric epics alive. A few family-run theatres survive, thanks to safeguarding activities that started a century ago.
©Giacome Cuticchio/UNESCO
The puppet theatre known as the Opera dei Pupi emerged in Sicily at the beginning of the nineteenth century and enjoyed great success among the island’s working classes. The puppeteers told stories based on medieval chivalric literature and other sources, such as Italian poems of the Renaissance, the lives of saints and tales of notorious bandits. The dialogues in these performances were largely improvised by the puppeteers. The two main Sicilian puppet schools in Palermo and Catania were distinguished principally by the size and shape of the puppets, the operating techniques and the variety of colourful stage backdrops.
These theatres were often family-run businesses; the carving, painting and construction of the puppets, renowned for their intense expressions, were carried out by craftspeople employing traditional methods. The puppeteers constantly endeavoured to outdo each other with their shows, and they exerted great influence over their audience. In the past, these performances took place over several evenings and provided opportunities for social gatherings.
The economic and social upheavals caused by the extraordinary economic boom of the 1950s had a considerable effect on the tradition, threatening its very foundations. At that time, similar forms of theatre in other parts of Italy disappeared, some of them to re-emerge some twenty years later. The Opera dei Pupi is the only example of an uninterrupted tradition of this kind of theatre. Owing to current economic difficulties puppeteers can no longer make a living from their art, prompting them to turn to more lucrative professions. Tourism has contributed to reducing the quality of performances, which were previously aimed at a local audience only.

The Canto a tenore, Sardinian Pastoral Songs
Inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2005)
Country(ies): Italy
Identification
Description

The Canto a tenore, Sardinian Pastoral Songs
© Franco Stefano Ruiu
Canto a tenore has developed within the pastoral culture of Sardinia. It represents a form of polyphonic singing performed by a group of four men using four different voices called bassu, contra, boche and mesu boche. One of its characteristics is the deep and guttural timbre of the bassu and contra voices. It is performed standing in a close circle. The solo singers chants a piece of prose or a poem while the other voices form an accompanying chorus. Most practitioners live in the region of Barbagia and other parts of central Sardinia. Their art of singing is very much embedded in the daily life of local communities. Often it is performed spontaneously in local bars called su zilleri, but also at more formal occasions, such as weddings, sheepshearings, religious festivities or the Barbaricino carnival.
The Canto a tenore encompasses a vast repertoire that varies within Sardinia. The most common melodies are the serenade boche ’e notte (’the voice of the night’) and dance songs such as the mutos, gosos and ballos. The lyrics are either ancient or contemporary poems on present-day issues, such as emigration, unemployment and politics. In this sense, the songs can be regarded as both traditional and contemporary cultural expressions.
The canto a tenore is especially vulnerable to socio-economic changes, such as the decline of the pastoral culture and the increase of tourism in Sardinia. Performances on stage for tourists tend to affect the diversity of the repertoire and the intimate manner this music was performed in its original context.