A Day in Pinocchio's Hometown
Today we checked another place off our list of towns to visit: Collodi.
Collodi is the village where Pinocchio's author, Carlo Lorenzini, spent his childhood summers. The village's name even became his pen name: Carlo Collodi.
I looked back at this blogpost, which reminded me that it has been over two years since we first heard about the town. So, let's finally get to it!
Ira had already done the research. One ticket gives you access to all three attractions: the Pinocchio Park, Villa Garzoni and its gardens, and the butterfly habitat. Ira had also learned that the butterflies would be more active in the afternoon, so we were saving that for last. And since it was right beside the villa and gardens, that left the park first on our list.
The first building combined fun Pinocchio facts with activities for kids. And since I like to consider myself a big kid, I joined in the fun. I let the little ones go first, of course.
It reminded me a little of the video game Dance Dance Revolution. The one video game I'm actually good at.
It would have been even more fun to have dragged along a kid or two with us. There were lots of fun things to explore, including this shark from Chapter 34:
«...una testa enorme colla bocca spalancata...».
For those of you confused by the shark, the explanation goes back to the original 1883 text, where Collodi writes about Il terribile pesce-cane, which translates literally to "dog-fish." That is simply the everyday Italian word for a shark.
Of course it wouldn't be a Pinocchio park without Pinocchio, right?
We walked through gardens, past an old-fashioned puppet show, and then found this building, which was a children's workshop. It was a place where kids could draw their own versions of puppets or color in classic scenes while surrounded by an extensive display of historic books, rare international editions and all kinds of puppet figurines.
We both thought the next section of the park was pretty cool. We were watching the progress of two young girls, maybe around 7 and 9 years old. They were tethered to a guide rope and navigating across a suspended bridge over the Pescia river. On the other side, they passed from tree to tree over balance beams.
The younger girl had shorter legs and was having a bit of a harder time. She even slipped once, then got stuck in a precarious splits position between two hanging logs, but thankfully recovered and continued on ahead.
Ira's eyes moved forward, ahead of the girl, and he thought, "There's no way she's taking the zipline across. There isn't anyone on that side to help her."
So we stood transfixed, waiting to see how she was going to get across.
And frick if that tiny little snip of a girl didn't manage her way around and zipline across.
We were both just flabbergasted at how this was allowed.
Clearly the park wasn't worried about being sued.
We continued along the winding paths through the park until we came across another giant sea monster sculpture. What's funny is that we felt like we discovered it backwards. Let me show you what I mean.
It was only when we crossed the lake that we realized this was also intended to be the Terribile Pesce-cane, even though it looks--and is popularly referred to--as a whale.
In the original text, the creature was described as being as tall as a five-story building. But despite the original text, Disney's 1940 animated movie Pinocchio famously changed the monster into a whale, which ultimately cemented the whale image into global pop culture.
Of course, that's not surprising, Disney has a history of changing stories to fit the family-friendly happy endings.
But I digress.
From up here, we had a pretty nice view of the historic town of Collodi. With the impressive villa at the bottom and the rest of the town snaking up the hill, it made for a pretty memorable-looking hilltop town.
By now, we knew we had somehow missed a large section of the park, so we started backtracking to find what we had missed. Here are a few of the highlights.
The Blue Fairy's House, or Casa della Fata is one of the most distinctive, mid-century architectural art installations along the park's wooded monumental trail. It was built in the 1960s and 1970s and is, oddly enough, not the first bottle house we've seen.
The first was in Nevada at the end of our trip to Death Valley. If you're interested, you can read about it here.
Steps from the bottle house, this sculpture reminded us of a restaurant in Massa Marittima: Il Gatto e La Volpe.
Which, now that I'm thinking about it, is a strange name for a restaurant considering the Cat and the Fox were false friends and not to be trusted.
Though perhaps they are implying that you can find a good hearty meal and an indulgent feast fit for the Cat and the Fox, like they had in the story with Pinocchio.
That makes more sense.
Of course I couldn't not include a picture of Ira's favorite character...Jiminy Cricket.
Which Ira loves not because of the Disney character, but because, like in the 19th and early 20th century, "Jiminy Cricket" was a polite euphemism used to avoid saying "Jesus Christ" out loud.
Ira can often be heard using the plural version, in situations of dire need.
And then we were done, just in time for lunch.
We walked in the general direction towards the villa, which was our next stop. We picked the one restaurant advertising A/C. It was so hot, and A/C sounded like heaven.
Ira had a pizza and I had lasagna, mostly because the waitress highly recommended it.
And how could I resist a highly recommended lasagna?
The answer is: you don't.
And I wasn't disappointed. It was a solid lasagna and just what I needed to keep going.
Next stop: Villa e Giardino Garzoni
Like the rest of the village of Collodi, the garden shares a deep connection with the author of Pinocchio, whose father worked as a gardener on the estate.
Ira took the photo below from the base of the central axis of the garden, perfectly capturing how the Baroque garden uses perspective to look grander and steeper than it actually is.
The stone balustrades of the water staircase perfectly frame the center, leading up to a complex cascade of water basins.
We slowly worked our way up the garden to the top and were rewarded with a beautiful panoramic view.
At the top, there were a lot of hidden pathways and ivy- covered sculptures to discover. And it was a little cooler under the trees.
One of the pathways took us toward the villa and over this rustic retaining wall. Ira really liked this moon door.
Around every corner, there were works of art waiting to be found and appreciated. And we definitely appreciated being able to visit and enjoy the gardens.
Not being classic trained, I'm pretty proud of myself for recognizing Hercules wearing his lion pelt and using his club to defeat Cerberus, Hades' three-headed guard dog.
Look at me, I know some things.
We made it to the base of the Villa Garzoni where we were allowed to enter the first set of doors into the courtyard. But the interior of the villa was closed to the public as it is undergoing restoration.
It was still pretty cool to walk up there though.
The detail already restored on this part of the villa was beautiful, but I can imagine they still have a lot of work to do.
As we walked back out, we noticed that from this vantage point, we could still see the 63-foot Pinocchio way off in the distance.
Can you spot him waving to you?
One set of ancient stairs down from this spot and we found ourselves below the moon door and in the Labyrinth garden.
According to local folklore, the maze is a major symbol of good luck for couples. Walking through the winding paths together is said to ensure a long-lasting marriage, fidelity, and romance.
So how does that work exactly? Does it still count if we weren't side by side? If Ira was at one end and I was at the other, is that still together? I'm gonna count it.
In search of more shade, we walked towards a recent addition to the villa gardens: the bamboo forest. It reminded me a little of the bamboo forest we saw last year in Kyoto.
We worked our way back down to where we started. We turned around to take one last look at the villa and then headed to the Collodi Butterfly House.
It used to be the estate's greenhouse, but has since been repurposed.
And although in theory it was a good idea to wait until the heat of the day, when the butterflies are more active--and they were active--it was not so conducive for people.
It was oppressively hot inside, so we didn't stay for long.
We both agreed it was time to head home.
Back in the car and navigating out of the town, we made a couple quick stops to photograph the last of the Pinocchios around town.
All a little different, but all very fun.
And with that, we said our goodbyes to Collodi and Pinocchio.
And I went home with my own complete copy of the original Italian version.
It might take me awhile to get through all 36 chapters, but there's always time for another book, right?
Ciao, ciao!
You definitely know some things! 😁 Really interesting place. That zip line reminded me of several walkways we saw in Europe. Misstep and you would fall into a raging river. We were so surprised there weren’t guardrails for kids!
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