The History
Festival Incanti
International Puppet Theatre Festival for adult public

Incanti is an International Festival of Puppetry aimed to adult public.
With particular emphasis on Shadow Theatre, the festival offers both traditional shows and productions of innovative&experimental feature, in which music, poetry and the visual arts intersect with fantasy and creative freedom.
Incanti started in 1994 from an initiative of Controluce Teatro d’Ombre with the support of the Regione Piemonte and with the collaboration of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. They were joined over the years by MiBACT, Città di Torino, Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT, Comune di Grugliasco, Fondazione Teatro Stabile di Torino and Fondazione Teatro Ragazzi e Giovani onlus, and other cultural institutions.
INCANTI’s goal is the spread and promotion of Puppet Theatre in Piedmont and in Italy, primarily for an adult audience; apart from the main programme there is a section devoted to schools (in collaboration with the Municipality of Grugliasco) and many educational projects, as the Shadow Theatre Workshop at the Castello di Rivoli, the Production Incanti Project (PIP), the Academia Project, and the Cantiere.
The continued growth of audiences, not only from Turin and the region of Piedmont but also from other Italian cities and from abroad, confirms INCANTI as a window on International Figure Theatre aimed at adult audiences. Over its more than 25 years of annual editions, INCANTI’s programs have presented a wide range of older traditions, and explored innovation and experiment crossing into other genres; Its topics have ranged from war to religion, from myth to politics, in ways that touch the heartstrings of man and history from unusual and sometimes poignant angles.
In past editions Incanti welcomed artists and companies from China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Japan, Corea, Canada, Australia and all around Europe; among others Prasanna Rao, Dondoro Theatre, I Wayan Wija, Kathakali Center di Kerala, Cengiz Ozek, Yeung Fai, Mummenschanz, Bred&Puppet, Richard Bradshaw, Stephen Mottram’s Animata, Stuffed Puppet Theatre, Figurentheater Tübingen, Norbert Goetz, Tadeus Wierzbicki, Amoros et Augustin, Mossoux-Bonté, Max Vandervorst, Jordi Bertran, La Cónica-Lacónica, Gyula Molnar, Compagnie Gare Central, Meinhardt Krauss Feigl, Duda Paiva, La Tortue Noire, Nori Sawa, Flop Lefebvre, Ines Pasic-Gaia Teatro. As for the Italian companies, among others: Marionette Colla, Teatro dei Sensibili di Guido Ceronetti, Controluce Teatro d’Ombre, Teatro Gioco Vita, Claudio Cinelli, Teatro Del Carretto, I Sacchi di Sabbia, Is Mascareddas, L’Asina sull’isola.
Incanti collaborates regularly with Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Istituto per i Beni Marionettistici e Teatro Popolare, Scuola Internazionale di Comics, Animateria. In past editions it has collaborated also with Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati, SMAT, FigurenTheaterFestival of Wels (Austria), L’Altro volto del Teatro (Cagliari), Adria Puppet Festival (Gorizia), AIACE Turin, Asifa, , Goethe Institut of Turin, Torino Spiritualità, Forum Austriaco di Cultura, Istituto Giapponese di Cultura, Institut Ramon Llull of Barcellona, Wallonie–Bruxelles Internationa, MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale of Turin, Piccola Accademia del Teatro Ragazzi e della Animazione, Museo Diffuso della Resistenza of Turin, Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali of Turin. Festival dei Popoli of Firenze and many others.
2019 EDITION
Numbers of Incanti 2019
