Cross Commentary

April 2002

Pinocchio Of Tuscany

by Jerry Cross, Diablo Valley College

Last spring I was teaching in Diablo Valley College’s International Education Program in Florence, Italy. My wife and I visited an old friend, Roberto Ciabani, one of the leading contemporary artists in Florence, who showed us a series of paintings he had created for the Pinocchio centennial.

When we saw Roberto’s art we wanted to share the beauty of the Tuscan hills and the painting of the wooden puppet getting his nose pecked off by birds. We were so struck by the vibrancy of the art, that soon he was introducing us to his Italian publisher who took us to the National Institute of Carlo Collodi in the Tuscan hillside village of Collodi, the home of the author of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi.

The publisher was involved in doing new editions of Pinocchio in German and Italian based on the original text. He introduced us to Danielle Narducci, the assistant director of the Collodi Institute, who met with us in a beautiful room with frescos on the walls and views of the hillside village out the window. During our visit, he took us into the archives. Along two full walls were bookcases where translations from every language imaginable from the past 100 years had been collected. We learned it is the second most translated book in the world, second only to the Bible.

We found the magic in Collodi’s original handwritten notes of Pinocchio, shared with us by Narducci. As we sensed his energy and joy, the Tuscan tale began to take on a new vibrancy for us. We learned that Carlo Lorenzini was 55 years old when he took the pen name of Collodi, his childhood home in Tuscany, and wrote a children’s newspaper serial about a puppet.

After being a famous journalist in Florence, he wrote what was considered his finest work. He had never married or had children, yet in Pinocchio he shares the wisdom and love of a wise old man through the adventures of a puppet. Pinocchio wants to become a real boy, not pulled by puppet strings of whims.

The Italian publisher encouraged us to consider doing an English version based on the authentic text translated by poet M.R. Rosenthal for American audiences. Bringing this into concrete form has been quiet a challenge with time differences and the difficulty of trying to send computer files from two different continents.

Roberto showed us a newspaper article in Florence that reported Roberto Begnini (the Academy Award-winning actor of Life is Beautiful) is scheduled to release an Italian film of Pinocchio in the United States in 2002.

We decided to do this book, The Authentic Story of Pinocchio of Tuscany, because it was a way for us to bring part of Italy home. The spirit of Tuscany is expressed through the translation of Collodi’s original text, the only English translation in print approved by the National Foundation of Carlo Collodi of Tuscany; and through the collection of Pinocchio art by Roberto Ciabani. This was the magic we uncovered amid the lush green rolling hills of Tuscany: a transatlantic collaboration bringing Italian literature and painting to the American reader.

The Italian ambassador has invited the Collodi Foundation to exhibit “Pinocchio Around the World,” books from many countries, along with our book at the United Nations in May for international children’s rights. Following the United Nations exhibit, my wife and I are arranging for the “The World of Pinocchio” to be exhibited in California in June.

Jerry Cross and his wife, Pauline Bondonno, have had their small family publishing business for about 24 years. Cross is an author and his wife is a journalist. They also published a psychology text which is widely used in college psychology classes. For information about their books, for bookstore orders or exam copies for Children’s Literature courses, e-mail them at crystalpub@aol.com. Their web site is www.crystalpublications.net.