Wednesday 28th September

Usual leisurely start to the day then we walked along to the Teatro Massimo, the third biggest opera house in the world. There we purchased tickets for the half hour tour of the building. The building is huge and built in the late 19^th century after the demolition of an church and a monastery on the same site. A case of art overtaking religion! We got to see the auditorium which seats over 3,000 people. There were the rehearsals for a new opera called ‘The Secret Marriage’ which will be performed in a day or so. Thus the auditorium was a bit dark and we just got a fleeting glimpse of the tiers of ‘rings’ and the relatively small stalls area. We also go to see the Royal box and the large retiring room called the ‘Echo Room’ and this was well named as the room had the most distinctive echo. It was used during intermissions for smoking and conversation. This was not an in depth view but gave some impression of the sheer size of the place and its ornate decorations. The opera house was opened with Verdi’s ‘Falstaff’. Verdi’s statute stands  prominently in the courtyard.

From Wikipedia:

The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its inauguration, it was - with its area of 7730 m² - the third largest opera house in Europe after the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the K. K. Hof-Opernhaus in Vienna),^[1] renowned for its perfect acoustics.

An international competition for the creation of the opera house was announced by the Palermo Council in 1864 at the instigation of the mayor, Antonio Starrabba di Rudinì. For many years there had been talk of building a large new theatre in Palermo, worthy of the second biggest city in southern Italy (after Naples) and designed to promote the image of the city following the unification of Italy in 1861.

Bust of Giuseppe Verdi outside of the Teatro Massimo

The opera house was designed, and overseen by the Italian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, who was well known in Sicily for his previous cathedral restoration design in the city of Acireale, as well as garden and villa designs in the city of Palermo and Caltagirone. Following G. B. F. Basile's death in 1891, construction was then overseen by his son, Architect Ernesto Basile.

The Rutelli and Machì Company, represented by Giovanni Rutelli and Alberto Machì (both founding members of the company) was contracted for the main construction of the theatre which, under Architect Giovanni Rutelli's technical and building direction, went from the foundations all the way up to the theatre's attic structures. He was also responsible for all the external decorations of the building. Rutelli initially designed a steam tower crane machine which was then successfully able to lift large stone blocks and Greek/Roman styled columns during construction of the very large theatre.

Giovanni Rutelli belongs to a very old and renowned Italian family of confirmed British Isles origin, a family which also includes architects and sculptor artists from the old Sicilian classic and baroque school as well as building contractors, all entrepreneurs going back to the first half of the 18th century in Palermo. Along with Architect D. Mario Rutelli (Giovanni's great-grandfather), they were considered to be among the most technically and artistically specialized experts in Sicily at that time, especially because of Mario Rutelli and his descendants' profound knowledge and experience in Ancient Greek/Roman architecture, as well as the Norman architectural style. This style required the use of natural thick stone, all of which was part of the structural design. The two very large bronze statues of lions sitting next to the theatre's monumental stairway entrance were created by Giovanni Rutelli's son, sculptor artist Sir Mario Rutelli and Benedetto Civiletti.

Construction started on 12 January 1874, but was stopped for eight years from 1882 until 1890. Finally, on 16 May 1897, twenty-two years after the laying of the foundation stone, the fourth largest opera house in Europe at the time — after the Royal Opera House in London, the Palais Garnier in Paris, and the K. K. Hof-Opernhaus in Vienna— was inaugurated with a performance of Verdi's Falstaff conducted by Leopoldo Mugnone.

The interior is decorated and painted by Rocco Lentini, Ettore De Maria Bergler, Michele Cortegiani and Luigi Di Giovanni.

Busts of famous composers were carved for the theatre by the Italian sculptor, Giusto Liva (born in Montebelluna, Treviso in 1847) and several of his sons.

Then we had intended to try to have lunch at Grand Hotel des Palmes but the GPS had us twisting this way and that and we eventually arrived back at the opera house where they had a nice restaurant in the garden area and we elected to have lunch there. This was a very delicious meal on a gorgeous fall day so proved to be a serendipitous choice. Our waiter spoke excellent English and had workers in both Miami and Edinburgh!!

Then we walked back to the apartment and wonder of wonders, the car obstructing the exit of our car from the garage had moved and were able, with some twisting and turning to get the car out of the garage and park it on the street. This gave MAC much relief although she greeted about it being towed away although I felt that was unlikely as there were a lot of cars parked adjacent.

Then it was time for a rest. At around 5 p.m. we walked towards the cathedral to find the Teatro Argento where the famous puppet shows ‘Opera del Pupi’ are held each evening at 5.30 p.m. We soon found it and paid the entry fee and sat on wooden benches with about a dozen others. The walls were lined with the puppets and a small stage was at the front. An old gentleman, Mr Pasqualino? Gave a talk in Italian about the theater, the puppets and his grandfather whom had started the theater.

A small theater of the Sicilian tradition, housed in the elegant Palazzo Asmundo in Palermo, in the heart of the historic city center, in front of the majestic Cathedral: it is the Sicilian Puppet Theater of the Argento family, founded in 1893 by the puppeteer Vincenzo Argento, known as Cecè.

Since its foundation, the theater has excited young and old, nostalgic Sicilians and curious tourists with the stories of the tradition of the Cuntari, treated in detail.

Since 1993 the owner of the Opera dei Pupi di Vincenzo Argento & Sons is the nephew Vincenzo, who also takes care of the artistic direction.

Committed to the dissemination of Sicilian craftsmanship, the Theater offers free visits to the Artisan Laboratory, located in Corso Vittorio Emanuele 145, where it is possible to witness the entirely handmade production of Sicilian puppets and also choose a souvenir to take home, after a pleasant holiday in Sicily.

The link below the photos gives more detail about the Teatro Argento.

Then the show began and, as it was all in Italian it was not easy to follow. But it seemed to concern two knights, Renaldo and Orlando who were fighting for the hand of Angelica who I deduced to be the king’s daughter. There were strenuous fight scenes between these two combatants and also some sort of war which may or may not have involved the French and also some Arabic soldiers. Heads were chopped off and heads were split in two, resulting in a small pile of puppet corpses on the stage. It seems as though the good guys won the battle but who won the hand of Angelica, we still do not know But at the last scene the king commended both knights on their courage (Insert Wikipedia here). At the end the puppeteers came out and it was possible to get a close up of both then puppets and the back stage. We also bought a puppet to remind us of this show.

The Palermo puppets

For more on the puppet theater click here

Then it was home, picking up a couple of things on the way, to pack for our departure in the morning and to prepare the rest of the food for a quick pasta meal. Then to bed.