Sicilian Theater in Little Italy: The Return of the Manteo Puppets

    Arrayed in armor and color, the Manteo puppets preserve the old Sicilian world of epic poetry, chivalry, and immigrant theater

At the Italian American Museum in Little Italy, a remarkable chapter of immigrant cultural history has returned to public view. Sicilian Theater in Little Italy: The Return of the Manteo Puppets presents a rare collection of historic, life-sized Sicilian marionettes that once animated the old puppet theaters of Mulberry Street in the early twentieth century.

These figures belonged to the tradition of the Opera dei Pupi, the famed Sicilian puppet theater recognized for its dramatizations of medieval epics, crusades, saints, and chivalric legends. Armored knights, Saracen warriors, paladins of Charlemagne, and tragic heroes once captivated immigrant audiences who gathered in crowded neighborhood theaters after long days of labor. For many newly arrived Sicilians, the performances preserved not merely entertainment, but memory, language, and continuity with the old world.

The Manteo puppets stand as relics of that vanished world of popular theater and communal storytelling. Their painted faces, ornate armor, and towering presence reflect a tradition in which history, legend, religion, and folk identity converged upon the stage. In an age increasingly detached from inherited forms, the exhibit offers a rare glimpse into the artistic and spiritual imagination carried to New York by Sicilian immigrants.

Displayed once again in Little Italy, the puppets are survivors from another world—silent witnesses to the cultural life that once flourished along Mulberry Street.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 4th, Feasts of St Francis Caracciolo and San Filippo Smaldone

(L-R) Rinaldo, Charlemagne, Fulbia, and Orlando

    Along these walls stand the surviving figures of Sicily’s Opera dei Pupi, guardians of a theatrical tradition once central to the cultural life of Little Italy

(L) Pagan Captain. (R) Guido Santo

The Serpent

Pulicane

Nucalone

Mamalock

Compra Sud — The Original Vincent’s

Let's support those who keep our traditions and folkways alive

The Original Vincent’s
119 Mott Street
New York, NY 10013
212-226-8133

www.originalvincents.nyc

* Our recommendations will be unsolicited and only from our personal experience. No second-hand suggestions will be made.

Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland at the Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in Raritan, New Jersey

In Search of Dracula in Naples with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with the strange, the macabre, and the uncanny. What follows suggests possible explanations—though not the only ones.

Dracula in Naples: The Prince Who Crossed the Sea

In the sun-soaked streets of Naples, where saints and sinners share the same chapels, a stranger is said to have come to rest.

Vlad III of Wallachia

Not a saint, but a prince the world would one day call Dracula.

His name was Vlad III of Wallachia—Vlad Țepeș, the Impaler—a 15th-century voivod whose reputation for ferocity traveled faster than his armies. In life he fought the Ottoman Empire and carved his authority into a fractured frontier world. In death, his legend grew fangs.

Bram Stoker never set his Count in Naples, though he himself once lived there. Yet rumor insists that Vlad’s bloodline reached the Kingdom of Naples through marriage and exile. One of his daughters—Maria, according to local tradition—was said to have wed into Neapolitan nobility and carried with her relics of her father’s life: documents, portraits, perhaps even his remains.

In 2014, renewed attention fell upon a tomb in the cloister of Santa Maria la Nova. Its carved symbols—dragons, sphinxes, obscure heraldry—seemed to some observers to whisper of distant Transylvania. A dragon, after all, was the emblem of the Order of the Dragon, from which Vlad derived the name Drăculea—“son of the Dragon.”

Was it coincidence, romantic imagination, or the faint echo of a Balkan prince whose bones traveled farther than history records?

Most historians maintain that Vlad was buried in Romania, perhaps at Snagov Monastery, though even that grave remains uncertain. His body, like his reputation, resists confinement.

Detail of a marble tombstone depicting a knight's helmet surmounted
by a dragon's head in the small cloister of Santa Maria la Nova, Naples.
Courtesy of visitnaples.eu

Yet Naples is a city that specializes in layered truths. Greek foundations lie beneath Roman streets; ossuaries and catacombs run beneath Baroque churches. If a restless prince were to seek a second resting place, this would not be an impossible city.

No definitive inscription names him. No verified remains confirm the tale. And yet the carved beasts on that Neapolitan tomb—too suggestive to be entirely dismissed—continue to provoke speculation.

Did Vlad the Impaler make the journey in death? Or did Naples, with its love of relics and legends, simply adopt a foreign darkness and make it its own?

In the cloister’s quiet, where sunlight falls through arches onto worn stone, one can almost imagine a prince far from his native Carpathians—exiled even in death, suspended between history and myth.

Is Dracula merely a Transylvanian specter?

Or does a fragment of him lie still beneath Neapolitan sky, his legend drifting like sea mist through a southern city that has always understood how to live with ghosts?

……………………………………

Sebastiano III, Conte di Sciancato, a minor prince of forgotten Lucania, was said to have loved his wife more than his soul. When his beloved bride, Donna Lucrezia di Nerafiora, died in a tragic accident, he could not accept the will of fate. In his grief, he turned to ancient books and desperate learning, searching for a way to restore her to the world of the living. The attempt cost him his life. The ruins of his torre lie hidden, and when the earth trembles, some whisper he still searches for her.

Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Mary's Church in Norwalk, Connecticut

Feast of St. Florian at St. John Vianney Church in Colonia, New Jersey

Beyond Theatrical Rebellion

Democritus in Meditation, c. 1650, oil
on canvas, Salvator Rosa (1615-1673)

"What is needed is not a revolution in the opposite direction, but the opposite of a revolution." ~ Joseph de Maistre

For some time now, I have seen no shortage of people lamenting the state of the country. Some call for activism, others for outrage, demonstrations, or political crusades. Yet much of it remains trapped in the same exhausted patterns of spectacle and reaction.

Our struggle is not the theatrical rebellion of earlier generations. Unlike the protest movements of the old beats and hippies—many of whom eventually sold out and settled comfortably into the bourgeois order—I feel little desire to take to the streets alongside their modern successors to fight whatever the “current thing” happens to be. The conflict before us runs deeper than party-approved slogans and demonstrations.

Most people drift with the spirit of their time. Some cling to outdated narratives of rebellion, while others embrace ideologies they scarcely understand. Each camp believes itself enlightened, yet both often display the same arrogance, hypocrisy, and lack of self-awareness.

The real issue is character. What matters is whether a person cultivates discipline, self-mastery, and independence of mind, or merely conforms to the passions and fashions of the crowd.

What is needed today is not more noise or spectacle, but individuals capable of inward struggle. Rather than surrendering themselves to ideological movements, such people must cultivate clarity, seriousness, and personal nobility grounded in self-discipline and the effort to overcome themselves.

The crisis before us will not be solved by performance or outrage. It will be resolved, if at all, through the quiet work of individuals who step outside the theater of politics and undertake the harder task of shaping themselves. Only from such a disciplined few can anything resembling renewal emerge, for no lasting order can exist without self-mastery.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 2nd, Feast of Saint Erasmo

Compra Sud — L'industrie Pizzeria (Little Italy)

Let's support those who keep our traditions and folkways alive

L'industrie Pizzeria — Little Italy

197 Grand St.
New York, NY 10013-3790
212-470-4246

www.lindustriebk.com

* Our recommendations will be unsolicited and only from our personal experience. No second-hand suggestions will be made.

The Feast of Corpus Christi

This Thursday, June 4th, is the Feast of Corpus Christi. The following churches will offer the Traditional Mass.

Trinity Sunday at the Met

Scenes from the Life of St. Augustine of Hippo, ca. 1490, oil, gold, and silver on wood, Master of St. Augustine (Netherlandish, active ca. 1490)

After attending the Traditional Latin Mass in Brooklyn on Trinity Sunday, we made our way into Manhattan for an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Looking to avoid the throng of people and din from the Israeli Day Parade along Fifth Avenue, we took a quieter, more verdant path through Central Park before arriving at the museum.

Bronze statue of Christopher Columbus (1892) by Jeronimo Suñol
and the Naumburg Bandshell (1862) in Central Park

Our first stop was Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship, a fascinating exhibition centered on the drawings, plans, and design fragments behind the great Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe. Rather than focusing solely on finished cathedrals, the exhibit revealed the careful planning, symbolism, and craftsmanship that first gave shape to those soaring structures.

(L) Covered Chalice, late 15th century, gilded silver, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and crystals, unidentified Spanish artist (active Toledo, 15th century). (R) The Last Supper, ca. 1500-1530, limestone, traces of polychromy, unidentified German or South Netherlandish artist (16th century)

Fragment of the Tomb Slab of Maurice de Poissy, ca. 1339,
limestone, unidentified French artist (14th century)

(L) Morse, before 1487, partially gilded silver, Reinecke vam Dressche (German, active 1459-93). (R) Censer, before 1477, raised and cast silver, unidentified Swiss artist (active Basel, 15th century), and Tower Monstrance, ca.1450, gilded silver, unidentified German artist (active Cologne, 15th century)

Volute with Carved Leafwork, late 15th century Oak with traces of polychromy and gilding, unidentified British or South Netherlandish artist (15th century)

(L) Design for the Crossing Tower of Rouen Cathedral, 1516; later wood spool, pen and black ink with gray wash, over traces of metalpoint and blind ruling on parchment, attributed to Roulland Le Roux (French, active 1509-27), probably with Pierre des Aubeaux (French, active early 16th century). (R) Design for a Monumental Sacrament House, 1502; inscription 17th century, pen and ink (carbon black and iron gall), over blind ruling on parchment; inscription in pen and ink, Lorenz Lechler (German, ca. 1460-1516 or after) and unidentified Central European artist (active early 16th century)

Reliquary with a Statue of St. Luke and Arm Reliquary, charcoal or black chalk on paper, Attributed to Jörg Schweiger the Elder (German, ca. 1470/80-1533/34) From Basler Goldschmiederisse (Basel goldsmith's drawings), ca. 1508-24

(L) Design for a Mount of Olives Monument for the City of Ulm, 1474, pen and black ink, over blind ruling on parchment, Matthäus Böblinger (German, ca. 1450-1505). (R) Design for a Crozier, ca. 1490-1500, engraving, Israhel von Meckenem (German, ca. 1440/45-1503)

Relics and Reliquaries, from The Viennese Book of Relics (Das Wiener Heiligtumsbuch), printed by Johannes Winterburger, Vienna, 1502, letterpress with woodcut illustrations

(L) Design for an Altar with Angels, ca. 1480-90, pen and brown ink, with white heightening, on paper, Attributed to Master of the Drapery Studies (German, active Strasbourg, ca. 1470-1500). (R) Portrait of the Architect Mathes (Matthäus) Roriczer, ca. 1490-93, silverpoint on gray-white prepared paper, later partially covered with gray body color and dark gray-brown ink, Hans Holbein the Elder (German, ca. 1465-1524)

Afterward, we revisited the Raphael: Sublime Poetry exhibition, knowing we may never again have the opportunity to see many of those works after the exhibit closes on June 28th. This also allowed me to retake photographs of several paintings that had not come out well during my last visit and which I never ended up posting.

(L-R) St. Mary Magdalen, ca. 1503, oil and tempera grassa with touches of gold on wood, Raphael, and St. Catherine, ca. 1503, oil and tempera grassa with touches of gold on wood, Raphael 

(L) Portrait of a Woman in Three-Quarter Length (La Muta), ca. 1503-5, oil on limewood, Raphael. (R) Portrait of a Young Woman with a Unicorn (Laura Orsini della Rovere?), 1505-6, oil on wood, transferred to canvas, glued to a wood support, Raphael

(L) Processional Cross with the Crucified Christ and Roundels Depicting Saints Francis of Assisi, Louis of Toulouse, Claire, and Anthony of Padua (reverse); Crucified Christ and Roundels Depicting the Virgin and Saints Peter, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalen (obverse), ca. 1500-1503, tempera and gold on wood, attributed to Raphael. (R) Portrait of Vaterio Belli, 1517, oil on wood, Raphael

(L) Sepulcram Christi (The Dead Christ with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus), ca. 1495-98, oil and tempera grassa on wood, transferred to canvas and mounted on wood, Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci; 1446/50-1523). (R) Female Martyr-Saint Standing in a Landscape (Probably St. Ursula), ca. 1490-94, oil and tempera grassa on wood, Giovanni Santi (Giovanni di Sante di Peruzzolo; ca. 1439-1494)

We finished our visit wandering through the European Painting Galleries to see a few old favorites. For some reason, the lighting in the galleries seemed especially good that afternoon, and several paintings appeared almost transformed. The works of J. M. W. Turner and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot looked especially vivid in the bright light.

Whalers, ca. 1845, oil on canvas, Joseph Mallord William Turner

(L) A Lane through the Trees, ca. 1870-73, oil on canvas, Camille Corot, French, Paris 1796-1875 Paris. (R) Toussaint Lemaistre (1807/8-1888), 1833, oil on canvas, Camille Corot

Honfleur: Calvary, ca. 1830, oil on wood, Camille Corot

Mountainous Landscape, oil on paper, laid down on canvas, Camille Corot

Hagar in the Wilderness, 1835, oll on canvas, Camille Corot

The Banks of the Seine at Conflans, 1865-70, oil on canvas, Camille Corot

After leaving the museum, we ended the day with lunch at our favorite restaurant in Little Italy, Vincent’s Restaurant on Mott Street.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 1st, Feast of Sant'Annibale Maria di Francia

Fried calamari

Stuffed mushrooms

Meatballs

Chicken parmigiana over linguine

Grilled chicken with potatoes and broccoli

This Day in History: Alfonso V of Aragon Conquers Naples

Alfonso V, Palazzo Reale, Napoli

Photos by New York Scugnizzo

By Giovanni di Napoli

When Queen Joanna II of Naples died childless in 1435, war again erupted between the Angevins and Aragonese for control of the Kingdom. After seven years of protracted hostilities, King Alfonso V of Aragon finally triumphed on June 2, 1442, thanks to a little stealth and cunning. 

During the siege of Naples, the discovery of a tunnel system in the Bolla aqueduct allowed a group of 200 soldiers commanded by Diomede Carafa to circumvent the city’s defenses and emerge from a well near Porta Santa Sofia. Inspired by the great Byzantine General Belisarius, who used an empty aqueduct to take Naples from the Ostrogoths in 536 A.D., King Alfonso’s forces were able to overcome the guards, open the gate, and conquer the city. After 161 years, Sicily and Naples were once again united under one ruler. Continue reading