Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 - October 26, 1890), better known as Collodi, or Carlo Collodi, was an Italian writer. His byname came from the name of the village of Collodi, Tuscany, Italy, where his mother was born. He himself was born, and died, in Florence, Italy.
Best known as the creator of Pinocchio, Lorenzini wrote other romances and comedies too.
In 1848, during the Italian revolutionary ferments he left as a volunteer with the Tuscan army; an energic political sense will inspire his first literary works, starting from the founding of a satirical newspaper (Il Lampione), which was later closed by order of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Spring of 1849. In May 1860 however the newspaper was re-born.
Lorenzini had earn some early fame in 1856 with the romance In vapore and had also begun intense activity on other political newspapers such as Il Fanfulla; at the same time he was employed by the Censorship Commission for theatre. In this period he composed (sometimes simply by collecting previous articles) Macchiette (1880), Occhi e nasi (1881), Storie allegre (1887), satirical and humouristic sketches and stories.
In 1875 he translated an edition of I racconti delle fate ("Fairy tales") by Perrault, and had started his writing for children. In 1876 Lorenzini wrote Giannettino (undoubtedly isnpired by Alessandro Luigi Parravicini's Giannetto, but much more refined), the Minuzzolo, Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino (the last one "celebrating" the unification of Italy through the ironical thoughts and actions of the little rascal Giannettino).
Lorenzini became passionate with the figure of the rascal, by which he felt he could find a satisfactory way to express his concepts, in allegory and in comparison. In 1880 he began writing Storia di un burattino ("The story of a marionette"), which was published weekly in Il Giornale dei Bambini (the children's newspaper) and this was already the story of Pinocchio.
Lorenzini died unaware of the potential fame his work; as in the allegory of the story Pinocchio finally had his own independent life, distinct from that of the author. This has been said was one of the inspiring themes of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters.
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