Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals, also known as Chiarini's Circus and Menagerie or simply the Royal Italian Circus (Italian: Circo Italiano) was a renowned traveling circus company.
| Royal Italian Circus | |
|---|---|
 Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals, New Zealand Mail, 1879. | |
| Origin | |
| Country | United States |
| Founder(s) | |
| Year founded | 1856 |
| Defunct | Yes |
| Information | |
| Traveling show? | Yes |
| Circus tent? | Yes |
History
editItalian-born equestrian Giuseppe Chiarini established the international circus company as the director.
The circus first traveled across America in the mid-19th century and then started abroad. In 1855, Chiarini's Italian Circus performed in Greenville, Ohio.[1] Chiarini began touring Cuba in 1856 under the banner of the Royal Spanish Circus. He later adopted Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus, serving as the company's manager and proprietor.[2] In 1859, a wooden circus was provisionally opened in Havana for Smith & Chiarini's equestrian troupes.[3] In 1863, Chiarini's circus company in Havana performed at Plaza de Armas. In January 1867, Chiarini's circus headed to Mexico. After an eleven-week run in San Francisco, Chiarini advertised more shows on the Californian tour in 1868, including Sacramento, Stockton, and Marysville.[4] The circus had left for Panama and the cities of South America by steamer in 1869.[5]
During a visit to Auckland, New Zealand, in January 1873, the circus company held an event.[6][7] Chiarini's company landed in Melbourne in March 1873, arriving from New Zealand. On October 8, 1874, the troupe performed in Yokohama, Japan.[8] In November 1879, returned to New Zealand in Wellington.[9]
In 1880, the troupe consisted of an American bison, two zebras, three full-grown Bengal tigers, three tiger cubs, eight performing dogs, over twenty well-trained horses, and six trick ponies.[10]
Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals appeared in Singapore in 1882.[11] A performance in front of the Maharajah of Johor, whose state was located directly to the north of Singapore's Crown Colony, took place on January 30, 1883.[12]
The troupe made an appearance in Adelaide, Australia, in 1884.[13]
According to records, negotiations for the sale of Chiarini's menagerie and circus animals were underway with Chinese parties in 1889.[14] Following a journey to Shanghai, just two elephants, twenty-three horses, fourteen ponies, two jacks, two goats, four monkeys, one brahma, and a large number of pigeons remained in the menagerie after part of it was sold.[15]
The famed circus which travelled the world no longer existed upon Chiarini's death in 1897 in Panama City, Panama.
Gallery
edit-
Visit of the Chiarini Circus to Shanghai, depicted by local painter Wu Youru.
References
edit- ^ "Circus and Menagerie: Signor Chiarini's Italian Circus". The Greenville Journal. Retrieved 2024-05-30 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Chiarini's Circus". November 9, 1872. Auckland Star, 3 (726), 2. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "FROM HAVANA.; The Steamer Santiago de Cuba Slave Property Effect of the War in the States Miscellaneous and Commercial News". The New York Times. September 3, 1861.
- ^ "Amusements: Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2024-05-30 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Odds And Ends". San Francisco Examiner. January 22, 1869. Retrieved 2024-05-30 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Opening of Chiarini's circus". January 6, 1873. Auckland Star. 4 (883), 2. Retrieved May 27, 2024,
- ^ "Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XXXVII, no. 5023. New South Wales, Australia. 15 July 1880. p. 5. Retrieved 28 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ title missing, Japan Weekly Mail. (1875). Jappan Mēru Shinbunsha.
- ^ "Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and performing animals, Wellington, New Zealand". Alamy. November 26, 1879. Retrieved May 27, 2024
- ^ "Chiarini's Circus". The Examiner. January 7, 1905. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "Chiarini's Great Circus". The Singapore Daily Times. April 1, 1882. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "Roller Skating. Skating Around The World". The Sunday Leader. (March 3, 1889). via Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
- ^ "Tiger and Taxidermists". Via State Library of South Australia. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "Chiarini's Circus". Straits Independent. August 10, 1889. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "A Circus at Sea". The San Francisco Examiner. October 19, 1889. p. 7. Retrieved May 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.