Parco di Pinocchio

After our mishap with the satnav system yesterday we had no trouble with that today. So off we went to Collodi, where the Pinocchio Park (Parco di Pinocchio) was waiting for us. Before we parked our car we already saw this huge Pinocchio near the park entrance.

We had a great time in the park. The fact that none of our children wanted to leave sums it up nicely.

When we entered the park we received a booklet with lots of information about the village of Collodi and the park. Here are some quotes:

Collodi is a village in Tuscany that has become famous in the world thanks to the author of "The Adventures of Pinocchio", the best known and most printed non-religious book ever. The writer was called Carlo Lorenzini, yet he chose "Collodi" as his pen-name. This is a sign of the ties that bounded him to this place, where his mother was born and grew up, where Carlo himself spent part of his childhood and also used to come back when he was an adult to visit his mother's family.

It was mayor prof Rolando Anzilotti who had the idea and the will to create a monumental complex in Collodi, to celebrate the best loved literary character in the world and its author, whom no monument celebrated till then.

Pinocchio is the hero for children all over the world, the most famous and popular symbol of children, of their crave for life, of their need to grow up with culture and education too. On March 28, 2009 in Collodi the Collodi Foundation has risen the tallest wooden Pinocchio in the world, that stands in an area beside Pinocchio Park, and looks at the Garzoni Garden. We want this to be an occasion to point out what we do care for and consider basic: the right of children to education and culture. That is why we have written down a call for the inclusion of the principles from UN Declaration of Children's Rights in the European Constitution, with specific concern for articles 28-31 on education and culture. A copy of the call has been put under the hat of the giant Pinocchio.