Ciro Bertoni (1900)Castello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
Ciro Bertoni (Bologna 1888 - 1986): at the age of 12 he was already acting in an amateur dramatics company, at 13 he was giving conjuring shows and, two years later, he began to work with the puppeteer Ferruccio Parmiani, while continuing to act in prose theatre. In 1905, he worked first with the puppeteer Gozzi and then with Prof. Sit in the show I misteri della Camera Nera.
Cartolina pubblicitaria Teste di Legno del Cav. Ciro Bertoni by Ciro BertoniCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
In the same period, he worked as a decorator at the Gardenghi and Pontoni set factory; he often asked to leave just before the end of the working hours because he was employed to improvise the voices of the characters in films screened at the Sempione cinema, the first to open in Bologna.
Cartolina pubblicitaria del Cav. Ciro Bertoni by Ciro BertoniCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
In his career he collaborated with several puppeteers. Highly skilled in speaking dialects, he was an actor and director of a prose company, although the arts he preferred remained puppetry and conjuring.
The "Theatre of the Wise Puppets" (/i>Teatro dei Sapienti Burattini) of the magician Ciro Bertoni was famous throughout central and northern Italy. He was helped in the puppet booth by his wife Maria Saguatti and his son Eros.
Sganapino e Ambasciatore by Ciro BertoniCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
The blue-blooded Petroniano scolded his friend Italo Ferrari for talking about "Fasolino" instead of "Faggiolino": “... your book was supposed to make amends for the gross error of the various Campogallians ... In Bologna there is only one Faggiolino and there is no double known as Fasolino ... this name is bastardized! I’m sorry, but I wanted to defend a part of myself!"
Ciro Bertoni con Balanzone e SandroneCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
In 1915, he was drafted into the infantry and gave front-line shows for fellow soldiers: ‘‘At the outbreak of the Great War, Bertoni wore a uniform and was among the infantry in the front lines. His captain, the journalist Spadazzi, had no difficulty in recalling his artistic qualities and spoke with Colonel Salvioli, commander of the 223rd Infantry Battalion, asking, ‘Shall we entertain these guys?’”
For Ciro Bertoni, this was manna from heaven. He lacked the raw material, but with great ingenuity the heads of Fagiolino, Sandrone and all the other best-known characters in the puppet world emerged from large potatoes. You can imagine the blows that rained down from Fagiolino’s robust truncheon onto the heads of Cecco Beppe and Guglielmone!
Ciro Bertoni con Fagiolino e SandroneCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
After the capture of Gorizia, a theatre was improvised in the Convent of Castagnevizza and the "boys" returned to being pure children again, with death and glory hovering over their heads, and had a blast.
“Every now and then,” commented Bertoni, “a 305 would explode near the theatre. But ‘they’ didn’t move a muscle...”
'Fagiolino e Sandrone ai bagni al mare'' by Ciro BertoniCastello dei Burattini - Museo Giordano Ferrari
