{"id":43522,"date":"2026-05-28T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverpistoia.it\/a-walk-in-the-name-of-pinocchio-and-his-author\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T09:30:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:30:02","slug":"a-walk-in-the-name-of-pinocchio-and-his-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverpistoia.it\/en\/a-walk-in-the-name-of-pinocchio-and-his-author\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk in the name of Pinocchio and his author"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are many ways to commemorate an anniversary: \u200b\u200byou can organize conferences, seminars, exhibitions, public readings; you can publish new books or reprint out-of-print volumes. But, in some cases, it’s also possible to visit the places where the anniversary protagonist lived and take a walk.This possibility exists in the case of Carlo Lorenzini (1826-1890),<\/strong> the writer, journalist, and playwright born in Florence but also closely linked to a small village in the municipality of Pescia: Collodi. Indeed, it is this very small town that has lent Lorenzini his pseudonym since January 1, 1856: Pinocchio’s father<\/strong>, in fact, primarily in homage to his mother Angela Orzali (who was born in the Pescia area), but also to underline his profound connection with his own childhood, spent for significant periods with his maternal grandparents, decided to rename himself Carlo Collodi<\/strong>, taking the name of a small cluster of houses throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n

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But let’s get back to the walk.From Pescia, you can reach Collodi not only by car and bus, but also on foot, following a path called the Via della Fiaba <\/strong>(Fairy Tale Path). Pescia, of course, is worth a visit before starting the walk. The city of flowers, in fact, boasts a historical, architectural, and artistic heritage of great value and could also be explored following a Collodian or, if you prefer, Pinocchio-esque itinerary: for example, visiting the three monuments to the wooden puppet located along the river that flows through it.As we mentioned, the Fairy Tale Route begins in Pescia. And it doesn’t start from just any place, but from a literary place. The path begins in fact in front of the villa of Valchiusa, home to the civic library and a cultural place par excellence: in fact, Jean Charles L\u00e9onard Simonde de Sismondi, generally cited as Simondo Sismondi, the economist, man of letters and historian from Geneva (1773-1842) lived in the villa (as indicated by a marble plaque placed outside the surrounding wall) who abandoned Switzerland during the Jacobin period, around 1794, to move to Pescia, where he purchased the villa and the adjoining farm, which he renamed Valchiusa, in honour of Francesco Petrarca, his Canzoniere and one of the places par excellence of his poetic inspiration: Vaucluse in Provence. Sismondi played a central role in European historiography and culture with the volumes of his monumental History of the Italian Republics, which he began publishing in 1807 and which became a point of reference for Risorgimento intellectuals. He is credited with defining the hilly landscape surrounding Pescia as “Pescia’s Switzerland”: a definition still used today that arose from the similarities he found between the Swiss landscape and that of Valdinievole.<\/p>\n\n

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The Via della Fiaba corresponds to the ancient road connecting Pescia and Collodi.<\/strong> It follows the Italian Alpine Club path 251 (which overlaps with a stretch of the Cammino di San Jacopo) and is characterised by alternating mule tracks and paths between fields. In some places it is panoramic, in others it is surrounded by woods and olive groves. It’s about 3 kilometers long and can be easily covered in an hour: it’s therefore suitable not only for expert walkers, but also for lazy strollers and families.More experienced walkers have an alternative route back to Pescia. The return walk from Collodi can be done by retracing the same route or\u2014for the more experienced\u2014by taking a loop: in the latter case, the road (about 5 kilometers long and in some places poorly marked) climbs Mount Verruca, then passes through the towns of Monte a Pescia, Barignano, and Cafaggio, before returning to Valchiusa.In Collodi, everything speaks of Pinocchio and his author. A memory of little Carlo in the village of his mother and grandparents can be found in Collodi and Pinocchio by Collodi Nipote, and it seems particularly fitting to take us back in time and meet the future inventor of the wooden puppet as a child, happy to roam the fields: “As a boy, Collodi must have been one of those who can’t hold back and are labeled as mischievous and a pain in the ass. My father told me that when he was in Collodi, Carlo was always running away from home to go wandering around the countryside with his little friends.” But the town of Collodi can also be observed today by reading the description given by Carlo Lorenzini himself in Giannettino’s Journey to Italy: \u201cJust past the Montecarlo-San Salvatore station, if you turn left you see in the distance a long strip of old cottages blackened by time, which climb up the back of a high, steep mountain, like a flock of grey sheep. That strip of small houses is the ancient castle of Collodi. Up at the top of the castle is the Pievania church with its large bells that can be heard for miles when they ring; and down below, almost at the foot of the mountain, stands the grandiose Villa Garzoni, with its beautiful garden.<\/p>\n\n

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This brief description, which contains objective information, does not lack details that can be linked to the fact that Lorenzini is speaking of well-known and beloved places. And there is also an image that is both poetic and emotional: the \u201cold, time-blackened cottages\u201d that climb the mountain resemble \u201ca flock of grey sheep\u201d.Before heading back, you can pass through Collodi to see the tallest wooden Pinocchio in the world (16 metres), which is located near the headquarters of the Carlo Collodi National Foundation. In this sort of homage, it is advisable to reach the house where Pinocchio’s father lived on foot, at the current number 99 Via delle Cartiere: a house marked by a marble plaque dating back to 1890. Then, of course, there is the possibility of visiting the Pinocchio Park, created on the initiative of the then Mayor of Pescia, Rolando Anzilotti, and whose first nucleus was inaugurated in 1956.<\/p>\n\n

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The tallest wooden Pinocchio (16 meters) in the world<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Finally, the old part of the town is not to be missed. The paved road continues steeply uphill. We walk around Villa Garzoni, continuing along narrow streets that climb the hill, passing houses that often underscore the place’s connection to Pinocchio: on the roof of one house, for example, there are a terracotta Pinocchio and Fairy, in front of another stone building two paintings take pride of place, depicting the Talking Cricket and the wooden puppet. Finally, after a 400-meter climb, you reach the top of the town, dominated by the parish church of San Bartolomeo (dating back to the 12th century, although it has been renovated several times) and the medieval fortress. It’s a perfect place to catch your breath, pay tribute, in thought, to Carlo Lorenzini and his imagination, and get ready to start the journey back.<\/p>\n\n

Text by Giovanni CapecchiPhoto from the Carlo Collodi National Foundation Archives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many ways to commemorate an anniversary: \u200b\u200byou can organize conferences, seminars, exhibitions, public readings; you can publish new books or reprint out-of-print volumes. But, in some cases, it’s also possible to visit the places where the anniversary protagonist lived and take a walk.This possibility exists in the case of Carlo Lorenzini (1826-1890), the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8709,8707,8708,8706],"tags":[4388,4474],"class_list":{"0":"post-43522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art-naturart","8":"category-culture-naturart","9":"category-history-naturart","10":"category-naturart","11":"tag-arte-en","12":"tag-cultura-en"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA walk in the name of Pinocchio and his author - Discoverpistoia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A walk from Pescia to Collodi on the bicentenary of Carlo Lorenzini's birth. 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