Carlo Collodi

"Collodi" redirects here. For the fraction of the municipality of Pescia in Tuscany, Italy, see Collodi (Italy).

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Carlo Collodi
1890 sketch of Collodi 1890 sketch of Collodi
Born	Carlo Lorenzini (1826-11-24)24 November 1826 Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died	26 October 1890(1890-10-26) (aged 63) Florence, Kingdom of Italy
Occupation	Writer, novelist
Nationality	Italian
Genre	Children's literature Political satire Journalism

Pinocchio, by Enrico Mazzanti (1852–1910), the first illustrator (1883) of The Adventures of Pinocchio

Carlo Lorenzini (24 November 1826 – 26 October 1890), better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi (Italian: [ˈkarlo kolˈlɔːdi]), was an Italian author, humourist, and journalist, widely known for his fairy tale novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.

Early life

Collodi was born in Florence on 24 November 1826. His mother, Angiolina Orzali Lorenzini, was a seamstress from Collodi, the town from which he later took the pen name, and his father, Domenico Lorenzini, was a cook. Both parents worked for the marchesecode: ita promoted to code: it Ginori Lisci. Carlo was the eldest child in the family and he had ten siblings but seven died at a young age. He spent most of his childhood in the town of Collodi where his mother was born. He lived there with his maternal grandmother. After attending primary school, he was sent to study at a theological seminary in Colle Val d’Elsa. An account at the seminary shows that the marchesecode: ita promoted to code: it had offered financial aid, but the boy found that he did not want to be a priest so he continued his education at the College of the Scolopi Fathers in Florence. In 1844 he started working at the Florentine bookstore Libreria Piatti, where he assisted Giuseppe Aiazzi, a prominent Italian manuscript specialist.

Career

During the Italian Wars of Independence in 1848 and 1860 Collodi served as a volunteer with the Tuscan army. His active interest in political matters may be seen in his earliest literary works, as well as in the founding of the satirical newspaper Il Lampionecode: ita promoted to code: it in 1853. This newspaper was censored by order of the grand duke of Tuscany. In 1854, he published his second newspaper, Lo scaramucciacode: ita promoted to code: it ("The Controversy"). Lorenzini's first publications were in his periodicals. A debut came in 1856 with the play Gli amici di casacode: ita promoted to code: it and parodic guidebook Un romanzo in vaporecode: ita promoted to code: it , both in 1856. By 1860, he published his first notable work called Il signor Alberi ha ragione!code: ita promoted to code: it (Mr. Alberi Is Right!), which outlined his political and cultural vision of Italy. This is the text where Lorenzini started using the Collodi pseudonym, which was taken from his mother's hometown.

Collodi had also begun intense activity on other political newspapers such as Il Fanfullacode: ita promoted to code: it ; at the same time he was employed by the Censorship Commission for the Theatre. During this period he composed various satirical sketches and stories (sometimes simply by collating earlier articles), including Macchiettecode: ita promoted to code: it (1880), Occhi e nasicode: ita promoted to code: it (1881), and Storie allegrecode: ita promoted to code: it (1887).

Collodi became disenchanted with Italian politics afterward so he turned to children's literature and his first works involved translating French fairy tales into Italian. In 1875, for instance, he completed Racconti delle fatecode: ita promoted to code: it , a translation of French fairy tales by Charles Perrault. In 1876 Collodi wrote Giannettinocode: ita promoted to code: it (inspired by Alessandro Luigi Parravicini's Giannetto), the Minuzzolocode: ita promoted to code: it , and Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettinocode: ita promoted to code: it , a pedagogic series which explored the unification of Italy through the ironic thoughts and actions of the character Giannettino.

Lorenzini became fascinated by the idea of using an amiable, rascally character as a means of expressing his own convictions through allegory. In 1880, he began writing Storia di un burattinocode: ita promoted to code: it (Story of a Marionette), also called Le avventure di Pinocchiocode: ita promoted to code: it , which was published weekly in Giornale per i bambinicode: ita promoted to code: it . Pinocchio was adapted into a 1940 film by Disney that is considered to be one of Disney's greatest films.

Collodi died suddenly in Florence on 26 October 1890 at the age of 63 and is interred at Cimitero Monumentale Delle Porte Sante in Florence. The National Carlo Collodi Foundation was established to promote education and the works of Collodi, and the Park of Pinocchio attracts many visitors each year.

External links

• Template:Wikisource author-inline
• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Works by Carlo Collodi in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
  • The Adventures of Pinocchio at Standard Ebooks
• Works by Carlo Collodi at Project Gutenberg
  • The Adventures of Pinocchio at Project Gutenberg (translated from the Italian by Carol Della Chiesa)
• Works by Carlo Collodi at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Pinocchio Park Collodi Tuscany
• New York Review of Books
• Carlo Collodi National Foundation Collodi Tuscany
• Carlo Collodi at Find a Grave
• Carlo Collodi and Modern Politics – Any Parallels ?
• from "Pinocchio. Le avventure di un burattino" listen to chapt.1 – 2 – 12 audio mp3 for free