The Piccolo Teatro has stood squarely at the forefront of European theater for almost half a century, and a piece by its founder, Giorgio Strehler, has now come back to our shores. Seen here (at City Center) in the 1960s, “Arlecchino: The Servant of Two Masters” has become Strehler’s best-known, longest-lived hit – which isn’t necessarily a great compliment.

“Arlecchino” does deserve compliments, though; it is an adorable evening, full of physical and verbal comedy that requires virtuosic technique. Stunningly designed, neither irritatingly subservient to tradition nor apologetic for its nostalgic air, “Arlecchino” will be some of the greatest Italian theater we’ll get to see this year. It would be nice, though, if there were at least one other piece in competition for that prize.

The commedia dell’arte standard, Goldoni’s “Servant of Two Masters” takes moonlighting to the absurdist level. When the lovable scamp Arlecchino (Ferruccio Soleri), dressed in his harlequin motley and mask, decides to take on two jobs to double his pay, he accidentally scrambles the fortunes of those he serves. Superficially, the plot needs to push three sets of lovers together and resolve the identity of a cross-dressing woman, but it really exists simply to set up ridiculous situations. Welcome to the 18th-century ancestor of the sitcom.

Lazzis, or comic riffs, blithely derail the narrative and let the actors show off – we see Arlecchino chase an invisible fly or Dottore, the hilariously enormous buffoon, get into a pointlessly hammy shouting match. Most famously, Arlecchino, engaged to wait upon two tables in two separate rooms, must make frantic laps around the stage juggling sausages and full tureens of soup.

In this production, Mr. Soleri, who has become nearly synonymous with the role, capers and leaps, pushing off from his fellow actors as though they were the edges of a pool. It’s all the more incredible when Mr. Soleri, at the close, whips off his mask and skullcap to reveal his 74-year-old head. Though they have been together for 40 years, neither man nor production has aged a day.

This American tour may well be a last opportunity to see work by Mr. Soleri’s “third” master, Strehler, who died in 1997. But don’t go out of a sense of duty; the production feels like a vacation out of doors. A Mediterranean sky and comfortable stone plaza sets the piece – it’s so pleasant, even the unused actors mill around on the skirts of the stage to watch. This piece has been a triumph for ages, and it’s a vital part of the historical record. But will we ever be able to afford to see Italy’s fresher laurels?

Much exciting work goes on in Italy – but here in New York we don’t get the sharp side of the cutting edge. The Societas Raffaello Sanzio, directed by Romeo Castellucci, makes some of the strangest, most disturbing, and explosive pieces of theater-art in the world, but no American theater ever wants to bring them over. Luca Ronconi, the current Artistic Director of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, never seems to show up here either.

The Lincoln Center Festival continues to attempt the nearly impossible – whipping the New York theater scene into passably international shape. Nigel Redden’s programming at Lincoln Center is one of only two places in New York shouldering the burden of world-class presentation (the other being the Brooklyn Academy of Music). But prohibitively high ticket prices keep out students and less affluent theater makers, the very people who should be exposed to the experiments being made around the world – a catch-22 for institutions that rely mostly on private funding.

What we do wind up with from other countries tends to come from their “greatest hits” catalog. And so it seems we’re destined to get a steady stream of classics like “Arlecchino” – wonderful, but not enough.

Until July 23 (Lincoln Center, 212-875-5050).