pinocchio puppets
 

I read on the "what makes you think of Italy" thread that there are pinocchio
style puppets available??? where can you
find them? I have been collecting dolls and
puppets from all over the world for years,
and this is exciting news! (one of my favs
is a burmese puppet I bought in southeast asia) fill me in! :^o

I mentioned it :D and they can be found all over Florence, where its author Carlo Collodi was born (and died). Not sure of the quality you're looking for, I just see the touristy puppets hanging from souvenir stands seemingly all over the place. Have never touched or purchased one. Now, the sight of a wooden Pinocchio doll always reminds me of Florence :)

mynyc-thank you for your post! we will be in Florence, and Sienna, oh heck, all over, but I NEVER read in any guide books about these! I gotta tell you, driving home from work today, listening to my italien language CD,
I started dreaming...pinocchio puppet,
omg, how cool is that..have to find one for my international collection..
you added a whole new dimension to my
shopping agenda!!! :) thanks again!!!

ps...I always give my mother and my sister a "prize" from our recent trip
for Christmas..they will be so thrilled!! (guys...sorry, its a girl thing...)

I haven't seen puppets per se, but alot of the wooden Pinocchi dolls of all sizes, "lifesize" down to key chain ornament.

There is also a Pinocchio amusement park.

Have you read the original story? It is pretty dark.

They are not Pinocchio puppets, but rather wooden characters that hang with a string that you can pull and the arms and legs move up and down. I bought 2 for my child last year when were at the Pinocchio Park in Collodi, Italy.

Carlo Collodi was born in Collodi, not Florence and the tale was certainly not the Disney version one finds today. Collodi is a lovely town with the famous Villa Garzoni and gardens across the street from the Pinocchio Park (Napoleon stayed there once). You can make a day trip to Collodi via Pescia (nearest train station) or there is a bus from Lucca that goes there 2x a day.

Aside from these wooden pull toys, there are T-shirts, keychains, magnets, etc..a veritable industry on Pinocchio.
If you can't make it out to Collodi, these Pinocchio souvenirs can be found in Florence, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, and other Tuscan towns in the area. I think they make great souvenirs and aren't the typical thing people are expecting you to bring back from Italy for them!

are they generally toy quality style
(like little boys toy trucks) or the
polished, varnished, wood stained, painted variety,
maybe with nice quality fabric clothing? of course, I will see for myself in May, but if someone could steer me in the right direction, that would be greatly appreciated!

These puppets are actually sold in souvenir shops all over Italy, in fact on my lst trip, I brought back 2 of the marionette style puppets, plus a whole bunch of the little pull string ones and a Larger wooden one (made on Collodi), and gave the pull-string dolls to all my workmates as gifts. I bought all of them on a quick shopping trip one afternoon in the center of Sorrento! The Pinocchio story fascinates me, and I'm slowly reading a book "The Adventures of Pinocchio" which has the original Italian text and also a wonderful English translation by Nicolas Perella.

OOPS! clicked too soon! I meant to add that it's true that the original story is much more intense and dark than the version Disney invented. For example, in the original one, Pinocchio has an argument with "Jiminy" Cricket in one of the early chapters and smashes him against the wall with a wooden mallet! Yikes!

I guess he didn't get to sing "When You Wish Upon a Star!"

Sadly no, but the Talking Cricket later reappears to Pinochio as a tiny, softly glowing ghost perched on a tree as P passes by on a dark night.....a dark and stormy night.....!

The author of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi (real name Carlo Lorenzini), used Collodi as his pen name because it was the town where his mother was born. Collodi is pretty near Lucca, so Pinocchio-themed items are especially common in Lucca, as well as in Florence. But I think I've seen Pinocchio puppets in many of the more touristy places in Italy.

If you're a puppet collector, you may be interested in the traditional puppets in Sicily. But the "good" ones are very expensive, I think. (I've never bought one, so I have no first-hand experience.) You can also attend a puppet theater in Sicily. (I never did that either.)

daisy, to answer your last question, you will find all different levels of quality and detail. I saw a gorgeous porcelain limited edition one in Venice with beautiful handmade clothing. The procelain had been painted to look like wood (and really did look like wood). I think is was over 300E. I realize you're not going to Venice, just trying to illustrate that you'll find all types.

You will find a lot of Pinnochio items in Rome also. Several toy stores there had large Pinnochios outside the door. Most are painted in the traditional red/green glossy finish. In addition to all the wood items there is stationary, note cards, etc. The paper items are reasonably priced. I bought some of these at a street market in Florence.

susanp-actually we will be in venice, as well as rome, florence and santa
margherita ligure, still planning day
trips, sienna, pisa, orvieto possibly.
so I will be on the lookout for porcelain ones like you mentioned..but
perhaps a smaller version..less than
300 euro. venice will be our last city,
so I do not think I want to wait til
the last minute, hopefully will find a
nice one in the other cities. thanks!

ttt must-get-dolls-

There were some wonderful marionettes in a shop window in Venice not far from St. Mark's Square going toward the Rialto Bridge. There were a Pinocchio, a fox and possibly a cat.

Small ones also available at the market in Pisa. I bought lots to give people to use as Christmas ornaments.

((x)) ((x)) ((x)) ((x))

Colodi, a town east/northeast of Lucca, was the home of the author of Pinocchio. There are famous 17th? century gardens at the old villa in the center of town that are worth a look if you're in the area. There is a Pinocchio park of some sort and puppets hanging from every storefront. We were there early in the season (2004) when it was pretty quiet but it clearly get very crowded. A local restaurant was most unaccomodating of our group of 9 even though there were few other patrons. Instead, we headed up the mountain road out of town for appox 5km and found a small trattoria that probably had never seen an american before. It was a complete throwback to Italy of 50 years ago.

I bought a pinocchio style marionette in Montepulciano. They had many different sizes.