The Tuscany of Pinocchio

"Brrr! mi viene i bordoni soltanto a pensarci!"

The Paper

"-I will go to school at once. - What a good boy! - But to go to school I must have some clothes. Geppetto, who was poor and didn’t have a penny in his pocket, made his son a little suit of flowered paper, and a pair of shoes from the bark of a tree, and a tiny cap made from bread dough."

We can say that Pinocchio comes to life right from the paper on which his marvelous Adventures were written. We’re speaking in fact of an epoch in which the digital revolution was still a long time away and the sheet of paper, to write on paper, to draw and to paint on paper, were the principal means to convey information and to communicate and share one’s thoughts. Precisely in Pinocchio’s Tuscany up until a few dozen years ago, paper of very high quality was produced, watermarks and paper money for royal families, governments, large enterprises and artists all over the world. And even a particular quality of paper was invented: straw paper! The paper mills were many and they gave work to entire families. The two adjacent valleys of Pescia and Collodi, were crossed each day by men and women who went to work using paths and minor roads, on foot or by cart. But The Tuscany of Pinocchio, that goes as far as the sea, also hosts the most extraordinary masters of papier-maché, who make the large and festive figures that each year animate the Carnival of Viareggio! Yes, it’s really the case to say…turn the page!