In an intermedial tour de force of the history of the puppet in Italian cinema and beyond, Federico Pacchioni proclaims our time as the ‘Age of the Puppet’ (p. 10). Based on his lifelong research on the art and history of puppetry in Italy, he explores different forms and manifestations of the inanimate simulacrum, its origins and its most popular modern adaptations. Pacchioni gives an extended cultural, historical and etymological analysis of the origins of the word burattino (puppet/marionette), which is also at the same time what connects the art of puppetry to the commedia dell'arte and ultimately to the story of the most famous Italian puppet, Pinocchio. As the author thoroughly explains, Pinocchio has many narrative similarities to Burattino, a stock character of early commedia dell'arte that did not survive through the centuries like other characters did, but instead gave its name to all puppets (pp. 15–25).

In L'immagine del Burattino, Pacchioni examines puppetry through a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective in a new and refreshing way, exploring how puppet theatre has informed different media and cinema in particular. In this rich and detailed study, the connections between puppetry and cinema are carefully explored, with an emphasis on the Italian cultural context. Informed by theories of intermediality and remediation, Pacchioni examines the ways puppetry influenced early cinema (and vice versa), stylistically, aesthetically and narratively, starting with the example of the magic lantern, a pre-cinematic form of entertainment which already used familiar themes of puppetry to become more popular with audiences and which then gave way to the moving image in cinema as the most impressive form of spectacle. However, as shown through several detailed examples, cinema did not replace puppetry, but instead incorporated it. The feeling of the uncanny often conveyed by the inanimate puppets has been perfectly transferred with the inclusion of puppets in the big screen, with famous examples in the horror genre, such as the series The Puppet Master (1989–2020) and Child's Play (1988–2020), but also in films of Mario Bava, Carlo Rambaldi and Dario Argento (p. 49). Nonetheless, the use of puppets or marionettes in film did not only have that effect. It created possibilities that enriched the medium of cinema, both narratively and aesthetically. Carlo Campogalliani's 1936 feature-length animation film The Four Musketeers (I quattro moschettieri) is such an example. Produced entirely using marionettes, it includes impressive intertextual elements, such as a marionette version of Laurel and Hardy (p. 51). Despite the artistry of the genre, the uncanny effect of marionettes in feature-length films did not allow it to take off in terms of popularity, with the exception of experimental films (e.g. Jiří Trnka, Jiří Barta and Jan Švankmajer) or productions aimed at younger audiences.

The nature of the marionette and the existential questions it raises are prevalent themes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Marinetti's Italian futurism to the deep symbolism in Massimo Bontempelli's and Giorgio de Chirico's automata. Numerous examples from Italian and Italo-American cinema show how puppets and marionettes were often used as narrative devices in film, opening up unique ways in cinematic expression, such as in Vittorio de Sica's I bambini ci guardano (The Children Are Watching Us) (1944), where the puppet show helps the viewer understand the world through a child's eyes (pp. 75–84). Roberto Rossellini, one of the representatives of Italian neo-realism, as well as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci and the avant-gardist Lina Wertmüller, was also deeply inspired by the world of puppetry, as Pacchioni goes on to illustrate (chapters 6–9). Puppet theatre sequences within the film function as instruments for sociopolitical analysis, as in Rossellini's Paisà (1946) or existential and metafictional references as in Pasolini's Cosa sono le nuvole (1968). This coexistence of artistic form is of relevance not only to the great masters of Italian cinema and their continuing influence, but also to contemporary film techniques and devices that draw inspiration from the world of puppetry.

Pacchioni explores the function and metaphor of the puppet in examples that range from Indonesian puppet theatre to stop-motion animation. L'immagine del Burattino is a great contribution to the field of puppetry, but also to Italian studies, cinema and intermediality. Pacchioni's award-winning work opens a dialogue between media, with the central role given to the performativity of the puppet and its aesthetic, political and philosophical significance.