Amidst trumpet blasts and the beat of the bass drum, the curtain rises and there are the actors, all together, arms raised in a salute to the audience: Harlequin, with his multicoloured patchwork suit and his cat mask, is among them. Created in July of 1947 by Giorgio Strehler, re-interpreting the Goldoni tradition, Harlequin has seen eleven editions and three great actors: Marcello Moretti, Ferruccio Soleri - who through this role has entered the Guinness book of records - and Enrico Bonaversa, who has played the role of Brighella since 2000, as well as alternating with Soleri in the lead role.
A manifestation of a way of making theatre, a training ground for actors - the students of the Piccolo’s School have always joined the Harlequin family, in a kind of passing of the baton with their predecessors - the show is an act of absolute love for the theatre.

“For Goldoni - said Strehler - the World and the Theatre created a unity of intent and of works which render his plays so extraordinary, as they transform reality into poetry of an incomparable character, into a lyrical touch of love. That which once seemed to be play, music and fun, has now become a measure of style, testimony of time and custom, the research into, and discovery of, a humanity which experiences its dramas with humour and tenderness, in an alternation of light and shadow and of words and silence which comes as a surprise for those who imagine Goldini to be enclosed in his cliché of the comical and ridiculous at all costs”.