Valerio Aldrighi, Italian puppeteer from Milan, promoter of the heritage and art of burattini in Northern Italy.

Valerio Sebastian Saccà:
Puppeteer and sculptor, he continues the puppet tradition of the Lombard school. He started his profession at a very young age, recovering the already forgotten Mask of Meneghino, a Milanese character, and after having produced the first shows, he became the protagonist of the main festivals of the sector.  He refined his theatrical and sculptural techniques with great masters such as Giacomo Onofrio, Natale Panaro, and Daniele Cortesi, his true point of reference.  At 34 years of age, Valerio is today not only one of the youngest puppeteers in Italy, but also one of the few to continue a historical, artistic, artisan, and identity tradition for the city of Milan that was in danger of disappearing.  His great value is that of knowing how to go through the tradition of puppetry, updating it, and preserving it faithful to the original matrix.  Valerio's puppets are born from very precise historical research and rigorously reflect the tradition.  Valerio founded La Casa di Meneghino, a research centre whose aim is to disseminate material related to Meneghino Pecenna, Maschera di Milano. Valerio researched and bought a very important quantity of scripts, posters, postcards, books, pictures, coming to possess one of the most important archival collections on Meneghino and puppetry in Northern Italy from 1809 to 1960: the Aldrighi Fund. Together with Gaspare Nasuto, he founded the MIPE - Puppet Experience, a high-level experimental puppet training centre, where besides creating sculptures, they analyse the ritual and original meanings of this language in an innovative way. In November 2022, an exhibition was organised in Milan, in collaboration with ANPI and the Meneghina family at the Casa della Memoria, entirely dedicated to Meneghino and the Milanese puppet tradition. In May 2023 a documentary by Italo Sordi on Valerio Aldrighi, produced by the Lombardy Region, will be released.

AWARDS
Ribalte di fantasia Award 2018, Pina and Benedetto Ravasio Award 2020, Teatrapa-Mexico Award 2021.
Teatrapa-Mexico 2021 and Silvano d'Orba 2022.

PARTICIPATIONS IN FESTIVALS
With his shows, he has toured Italy, Belgium and France.  Valerio Sebastián Aldrighiparticipated in the Festival Charleville Mezieres, Festival Teatrapa Mexico, Sharjah Heritage, Festival of Days, Festival Arrino dal mare, Café Literario Pienza, Caffeina Cultura, San Martino Puppet Fest in Syracuse, Festival JEM, Brussels - Théâtre Royal du Peruchet. In March 2022 it was the only Italian guest representative at the Sharjah Heritage Days (United Arab Emirates), an international cultural festival organised by the Directorate of Heritage and the Department of Culture on the occasion of the celebrations for the UNESCO International Heritage Day.

MUSEUMS EXHIBITING THEIR PUPPETS
In addition to private collections in Italy and abroad, his puppets are exhibited in the museums Joel Guichard (Paris), Théâtre Royal du Peruchet (Brussels), Vaccaro-Mauceri (Syracuse) and the Institute of Puppet and Puppet Theatre Assets in Grugliasco.