Carlo Lorenzini (Collodi) was born in Via Taddea in Florence in 1826. After having attended the seminary and then abandoning his philosophy studies at the Piarists, he began working as a clerk in the Piatti bookshop in Florence and writing reviews for the L'Italia Musicale magazine, quickly achieving acclaim.

He volunteered with the Tuscan battalion during the First War of Independence before returning to Florence and founding one of the most important political-satire newspapers at the time, Il Lampione. After its closure, he formed La Scaramuccia, a popular theatrical newspaper.

At the end of the Second War of Independence, he was part of the editing of a dictionary of the spoken language, the Novo vocabulario della lingua italiana secondo l’uso di Firenze (New vocabulary of the Italian language according to its usage in Florence), at the invitation of the Ministry of Education. He simultaneously continued his work as an esteemed journalist for several magazines, before he was commissioned to translate the most famous French fairy tales in 1975. He didn’t stop there! He gave them new life in Italian with his trademark lessons in morality. 

On July 7, 1881, the first episode of The Adventures of Pinocchio was published in the launch issue of the children's periodical, Giornale per i Bambini, under the title The Story of a puppet. He decided to publish them in a single volume in 1883, published by the Paggi Bookshop, a Florentine publishing house in Via del Proconsolo that was active in the 19th century.

And with that, the piece of wood that Geppetto transformed into a puppet whose nose grows if he tells a lie began his many meaningful adventures that were packed with narrative depth that went far beyond any children's fairy tale. The literary masterpiece was immediately a bestseller and has been translated into at least 240 languages ??with hundreds of editions. It came to the stages and big screens on many occasions, including the most famous version by Walt Disney.

When in Florence, all those with a penchant for Pinocchio should take a deep dive into his world with a visit to Bartolucci’s on via della Condotta. Forty years ago, Francesco Bartolucci, who came from generations of wood crafters, carved his first Pinocchio puppet, with fans from all over the world enjoying his carefully created interpretation of Collodi’s protagonist. Find out more!