A puppet show or performance featuring small puppets manipulated by wires or strings, popular in Italian entertainment.
From Italian 'fantoccini,' plural of 'fantoccino,' diminutive of 'fantoccio' (puppet), derived from 'fante' (boy/servant). This theatrical form was especially popular in 18th and 19th-century Italy and became fashionable entertainment in England.
Fantoccini shows were the special effects blockbusters of the 1800s—audiences would gasp as tiny figures appeared to dance, fight, and perform impossible stunts with incredible realism for the time. The technology influenced later shadow puppet theaters and eventually film special effects.
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