Giovanni Zoppé, left, owner of the Zoppé Family Circus, clowns around with fellow character Papino. Zoppé, who goes by Nino the Clown, is bringing the Zoppé Family Circus back to Tucson in January.

 Courtesy Zoppe Family Circus

Giovanni Zoppé wasn’t sure that his Nino the Clown character would be able to connect with audiences when the Zoppé Family Circus transitioned to a drive-in experience in the pandemic’s first year.

But three shows into their inaugural drive-in/multimedia run in Redwood City, California, in late fall 2020, he could see the reaction from the audience members in their cars and he just knew.

“I could feel their energy and the energy from the cast,” Zoppé said in mid-December, as the circus was setting up for its 17-day run in Mesa. The circus comes to Tucson’s Mercado District Jan. 6-22.

“I remember running around the stage screaming, ‘We did it! We did it!,’” he said.

That sense of connecting with the audience is an even bigger focus of the 2022-23 show, “Liberta!”

“Liberta is Italian for freedom, but it means so much more. It means unity, being together, one for all and all for one,” Zoppé said, explaining that with all that is going on in the world right now, from political and economic unrest to the war in Ukraine, the concept of unity strikes a universal chord. “I really feel it’s our goal to pull us all together as much as we can in our little circus. We can’t change the world, but at least, where we are, we can unite people.”

Zoppé and his troupe, which is largely comprised of family members, use their art to bring audiences together, from the central character of Nino the Clown, which Zoppé has been performing since he acquired a big top and launched his branch of the family’s 177-year Italian circus tradition 18 years ago.

Seven generations of Zoppes have performed the Italian-style circus around the world. It returns to Tucson's Mercado San Agustin in January.

The cast includes seven generations of Zoppés; the youngest is the 19-month-old son Ilario Fabrizio Luigino Zoppé of Giovanni and his wife, Jeannette Prince-Zoppé. Mom says Ilario’s role is to be cute. Zoppé’s 20-year-old daughter Chiara Zoppé-Meyer opens the show and his teenage son Julian joins the act several times a year during school breaks.

In addition to family members, the Zoppé Family Circus includes acrobatic acts from the African Kaloleni Acrobats troupe, Mexican trapeze artist Alek Alegria Ramos, Brayan Portugal’s “Ladder of Death” spectacle and and newly installed ringmaster Aaryn Russell, a veteran performer and musician.

Tucson is the final stop for the circus before it breaks for the winter. The circus tours annually from July through early January.

“Tucson is such a good, warm way for us to wrap things up,” Prince-Zoppé said. “It’s such a treasured place for us to be.”

“We’ve made many friends there. Tucson is really a jewel,” Zoppé added. “We absolutely love it.”

The Zoppé Family Circus has been a January tradition in Tucson since 2011, when UAPresents, the precursor of today’s Arizona Arts Live, brought them here for a weekend run at Reid Park. They’ve returned every year since, including during the pandemic, extending their stay from two days to nearly three weeks. They have set up the last few years at the Mercado District.

The troupe will perform 24 shows from Jan. 6-22 including a pair of shorter, discounted performances.

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Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch