Summer Puppet Theatre Workshop

A workshop where culture meets fun

The Summer Puppet Theatre Workshop in Silvano d'Orba, a small town in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, is much more than a simple summer camp. Established in 2001 by the Amici dei Burattini Association, it is a space where children discover the ancient and popular art of puppetry by getting hands-on: painting, sculpting, writing, and acting are intertwined to guide the little ones from the initial idea to the live performance.

Over the years, the workshop has become one of the hallmarks of summer in Silvano, uniting local children with those visiting from the city. Here, you don't just watch a show: you build it, piece by piece, discovering that behind a puppet there are hands, voices, and plenty of imagination.

Who is it for?

The workshop is aimed at children aged 3 to 14 and takes place over about two weeks between late June and early July. Under the guidance of the association's facilitators, participants learn to create their own characters, invent a story, and bring it to the stage, playing a leading role in every phase of the theatrical process.

• Decoration and painting of puppets and sets
• Sculpting and character construction
• Collective writing of the story to be staged
• Acting and rehearsals leading up to the final show

The link to the National Festival

The workshop is not an isolated event: its final show, titled "Children meet the magical world of puppets," inaugurates the National Festival for the Best Italian Puppeteers every year, a historic event that brings companies and puppeteers from all over Italy to Silvano d'Orba. Thus, the children's work becomes the prelude to a week entirely dedicated to puppetry, in a rare passing of the torch between new generations and the masters of this art.

A guardian of tradition

The Amici dei Burattini Association, active since 1990, has made puppetry a true cultural mission, supported over time by the Municipality of Silvano d'Orba and the Piedmont Region. The summer workshop is its most tender heart: the place where the tradition of puppetry is entrusted, every summer, to the hands of children so that it may continue to live.