Pinocchio

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,  a national holiday in Italy - no school. And it is raining again. I thought you would like to meet Florence's favorite son - Pinocchio.

This story begins with Carlo Lorenzini , the son of a cook and a house servant. Carlo grew up poor and with little education. When he was old enough, he joined the army and served for two tours. After leaving the army, he found a job as a journalist for a Florence newspaper. Writing became his passion.  He chose the name "Carlo Collodi" as his pen name. Collodi was the hometown village of his mother.

Carlo published many works of fiction, as well as nonfiction. One day he was asked to translate the "Mother Goose" stories into Italian. Carlo took the job to earn extra money. The editor was very impressed by the translations and encouraged Carlo to write his own children's stories. Carlo thought this was an insult. But the editor persisted and eventually convinced Carlo to write a children's story for the newspaper.

The  Pinocchio stories began as a series installment for the newspaper. It was such a huge success that Carlo realized he could successfully write for children and make money. The series ran from 1881 -1882. The stories were then published as a book in 1883 as "The Adventures of Pinocchio".
I have been told two meanings of "Pinocchio", both are found in researching the topic. The Italian translation of "Pinocchio" is "little pine eyes". The other meaning is "good fortune".

 Pinocchio is the wooden puppet carved by the lonely woodcarver, Geppetto. Pinocchio dreams of becoming a real boy and has a series of mishaps on his way to becoming human. The original stories described Pinocchio's nose as growing when he is under stress and unsure of himself. Today, he is known for his nose growing when tells a lie.

The original drawings of Pinocchio show him wearing clothes of flowered paper (a Florentine craft),
shoes of wood and a hat made of bread.

Today, we have a different image of Pinocchio. This is due to the copyright on the story ending in 1940. Can you guess who was waiting for this date? Yes, Walt Disney was waiting to be the first to claim the new rights in order to publish the "Disneyfied" version of Pinocchio. Ever since that year, we have known Pinocchio as this little puppet boy.

All over Florence, you will find Pinocchio pencils, dolls, keychains, puppets and t-shirts. He really did grow into a boy to become loved by all.