the dumbshow of pappacieri and papieri?

Question

The follow paragraph is quoted from Martin Amis "Time's Arrow"

"......Once he approached the altar and extinguished a candle on the chest there, and pocketed a few imperceptible coins. A single glace at the crucified Christ, the worshipped corpse: a figure bent like a branch whose shape has changed in the stretching agony of fire. Above our head, an unregarded observatory of light. Then out again to open air and the waiting carabinieri, and the dumbshow of pappacieri and papieri."

I know the stroy-time in this novel is backward. I know the narrator had arrived at Italy. But I don't know what is "an unregarded observatory of light" and the three queer words: carabinieri, pappacieri and papieri.

Who can explain for me?

Answer 1

Try here:

http://www.wordreference.com/enit/