Santi, bambini, attori. Francesco Gizzio e il teatro degli oratoriani a Napoli nel Seicento

The theatrical activities of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri are scantly documented and little studied. This article presents sources referring to the dramaturgical and scenic experience of the Congregation, with particular focus on Father Francesco Gizzio as dramatist and director of theatrical performances. It was a devotional theatre, dedicated above all to the figures of the saints, and its greatest peculiarity was that it was played by children. The article considers this to be the decisive point to try to understand the uplifting effect that the Oratorians wanted to achieve on the audience through the plays. The analysis focuses primarily on the outcome of the dialectic relationship between the actor-child and character-adult, which seems to rest on the theoretical- practical apparatus, of a spiritual and moral kind, typical of the post-Tridentine period.