For almost forty years, from 1921 to the end of the 1950s, every December the magic of Christmas also invaded the stage of the Teatro Gerolamo in Piazza Beccaria where the Compagnia Marionettistica Carlo Colla & Figli staged I nani burloni. The tale, which Carlo II Colla had based on a Northern European legend, was set on the very night of Christmas and gave the opportunity to reconstruct a magical and evocative atmosphere.
An atmosphere which is still intact today, in the new staging of this fairy tale for younger children which tells the story of two lovers, Giannino and Ninetta, who live in an alpine village. on the night before Christmas, while everyone is at Mass, Ninetta leaves the church to reach Giannino, but is kidnapped by the wizard Sbranatutto. The young man follows them into the woods but falls to the ground, exhausted. From the stumps and branches of the trees emerge a group of merry dwarfs who surround him. the King of the dwarfs gives him a magic cape and an enchanted sword. Giannino frees his loved one and everyone celebrates the union of the two lovers.