Browse Items (34 total)

cucciolo-alberto.jpg
Cucciolo is a relative, almost a brother for Alberto. He is a 3-feet tall, but extremely well-built and strong. His real name was Francesco Rizzi (Pasqualino in the Circus documents in 1951) , born in Isola Vicentina (Vicenza) in 1930. He is he…

alberto somersault.jpg
Alberto is one of two athletes in the world who can do a double summersault between two running horses. His son Giovanni points out to the back of the first horse which is thrusting him. The horse helped in the jump.

greatest show titles.jpg
In the movie's end titles, on the center top, the troupe is credited as "The Zoppes", 1952

tomb.png
Luigi Zoppè, born in 1880 in Farra d’Alpago (by Belluno), marries Emma Zoppè, born in Fusignano di Lugo (in Romagna) in 1884. They have the same last name as they come from branches of the same family. Luigi and Emma own a two ring circus and they…

zoppe-horses.png
The main attraction before the war are the horses.

zoppe in italy.png
The photo shows the Zamperla-Zoppè Luigi Circus with horses and artists, before WWII, probably including the immigrant generation as children. Zamperla and Zoppè were relatives. Emma Zoppè's sister was Natalina Zoppè, born January 6, 1899. She was…

circus 4 poles.png
The name changed from Circo Fratelli Zoppè, to Circo Zoppè-Zamperla, and finally Circo Zoppè. Here the Big Top has 4 poles. Italy, 1950s

dolores mary.png
Dolores, Guglielmo's oldest daughter, takes care of Mary. She is also a tightrope walker and is called "la donna mosca" (the fly woman) because she can walk on a horizontal ladder head-down. Dolores appears in the movie Vendetta di zingara by Aldo…

guglielmo dolores.jpg
The act that earned Dolores the nickname of "fly woman". Her father holds the ladder.

gabri e nadia rullo.jpg
The two sisters would perform with their family
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