The 'Opera dei Pupi' is a traditional Sicilian street puppet theatre, which plays out the story of the mediaeval epic poem 'Orlando Innamorato', by 15th century nobleman Matteo Maria Boiardo. This is a tale of love and jealousy, set at the court in Aachen (now in Germany, and right on its modern borders with the Netherlands and Belgium) of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who ruled across the late 7th and early 8th centuries. At its core is the rivalry between two knights, known as 'paladins' at the court, Orlando and Rinaldo. These two fought over the affections of the beautiful Angelica.
Salvo and Livia pass one such street performance on the Marinella seafront esplanade, and briefly pause to watch. The traditional story forms a metaphor to lay the ground for the plot in this episode, and a 21st century beautiful Angelica's affections are central to it. A small coterie of extremely wealthy and hedonistic Sicilians substitute for the court of Charlemagne, with suitable levels of hate and intrigue, and a bit of violence along the way. Salvo, Mimì and Fazio find themselves dancing around all this like puppets in a show, and it takes Catarella, enthusiastically playing computer games in his lunch break, to be the stable rock around which they spin. It is through watching his games that Salvo eventually realises the clue to the whole mysterious and very misleading puzzle.
Just like Doctor Who, Livia has reappeared, reincarnated in a new identity. But this does not stop her whimsically thinking back through 15 whole years of their relationship.
Well worth 9/10.