The Works
The Works
Adopting the pen name of Carlo Collodi, Carlo Lorenzini wrote more than just The Adventures of Pinocchio.
A chronological list of his other works with title and the place and date of the first edition follows.
Gli amici di casa (Firenze, Riva 1856)
This two-act play was published for the first time in June 1856 (and again in 1858). It had first circulated in handwritten form and discussed since December 1853. A news story about the noble Florentine Pucci family was the inspiration for the show. Although already in the works, it was suspended due to criticism that dramatic standards had not been observed. Based on these criticisms, Collodi republished a revised and corrected version in 1862.
Un romanzo in vapore. Da Firenze a Livorno.
Guida storico-umoristica (Firenze, G. Mariani, 1856)
This pocket-sized book was published in September and sold to travelers during the first year the Leopolda Railway, connecting Florence and Livorno, operated. Deliberately chaotic and equally mocking, the rambling, tangled narration, styled after the penny dreadfuls, offered travelers helpful or curious information on the various places the railway passed by.
I misteri di Firenze. Scene sociali (Firenze, Fioretti, 1857)
Released in early October, its installments were heralded by the press and praised for their "lively, spontaneous, and often satirical" style. Despite this reception, their publication ended with the first volume. Collodi himself stated in the novel that writing "mysteries" about Florence was impossible since everyone knew chapter and verse about the goings-on of everyone else. The work combined a Eugene Sue-style "mystery" parody (The Mysteries of Paris) and a bitter critique of a morally and politically decayed Florentine society.
Il sig. Albèri ha ragione! ... Dialogo apologetico (Firenze, Tipografia Galileiana, 1859)
This satirical pamphlet was written for Baron Bettino Ricasoli’s inner circle to respond to the leaflet, "La politica napoleonica e quella del governo toscano", by the Catholic federalist Eugenio Albèri. It advocated establishing the Kingdom of Central Italy as desired by Napoleon III, who intended to assign it to Jerome Bonaparte. At that time, Lorenzini was a political commentator for "La Nazione" in Florence.
La manifattura delle porcellane di Doccia. Cenni illustrativi raccolti da C.L. (Firenze, Grazzini Giannini e C., 1861)
This brochure, probably written on behalf of his brother Paolo who ran the Ginori factory, was published for the 1861 Italian Exposition held in Florence. The text is similar to a piece done by Albèri twenty years before, whose content expressed heartfelt praise of the pioneering—for Italy—policy for industrial and social progress that the Ginori counts implemented, establishing an elementary school, a vocational school, and a mutual aid society for its factory workers and their families.
I racconti delle fate, voltati in italiano da C. Collodi (Firenze, Paggi, 1876)
This book was Lorenzini's first work specifically for children, to whom he would dedicate most of his work in the years to come. The translations were commissioned by the publisher Felice Paggi who, with his "Biblioteca Scolastica" series, wanted to provide a good range of books in the proper Tuscan language for schools in the newly unified Italy. This book marked the first time Lorenzini worked with the Florentine construction engineer Enrico Mazzanti, who "supplied" the illustrations—a relationship that would continue for many years.
Giannettino (Firenze, Paggi, 1877)
Collodi’s first full-fledged schoolbook. Complete reconstruction of Giannetto (1837) by L.A. Parravicini, winner of a competition. The book then was disseminated throughout Italy but was already dated 40 years later. Lorenzini retained a hybrid structure of narration and didactic concepts but radically transformed his style, both in his use of language and his humorous approach to the street-urchin Giannettino’s adventures, with which the schoolchildren could identify. The book's success led to a series, including Minuzzolo, whose name came from Giannettino’s little friend, previously seen in the first book. Some books in the series were so successful that, with some changes and updates, they continued to be published and used in schools until the 1920s. In addition, it remained in print as an easy reader up to the 1960s. The Giannettini series ended with Giannettino's La lanterna magica, inspired by a middle-class diversion fashionable at the time and a forerunner of the cinema, using an anecdotal style to range from science, geography, and history (especially the recent—at that time—history of the Risorgimento).
Minuzzolo (Firenze, Paggi, 1878). See Giannettino.
Macchiette (Milano, Brigola, 1880)
This collection of narratives and sketches written and revised over the previous decades was published by one of the most prestigious publishers from that period. It was not very successful due to its humorously ironic style, unlike the then fashionable canons of literary realism. Nevertheless, it was republished in a revised, corrected edition by Paggi, a Florentine publishing house with which Collodi worked regularly.
Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino. Parte prima (L'Italia superiore) (Firenze, Paggi, 1880). See Giannettino.
Occhi e nasi. Ricordi dal vero (Firenze, Paggi, 1881)
A new collection of writings published in various fields was brought together and reworked for this book, inaugurating the "Biblioteca ricreativa" series aimed at adults. Despite the book’s great reviews, Collodi's propensity for humor and caricature was again criticized, considered excessive compared with the canons of naturalist sketches.
La grammatica di Giannettino per le scuole elementari (Firenze, Paggi, 1883).
Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino. Parte seconda (l'Italia centrale) (Firenze, Paggi, 1883). See Giannettino.
Il regalo del Capo d'Anno (Torino, Paravia, 1884)
An exceptional holiday gift, Il regalo istruttivo, with illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti, was reprinted in 1887 and introduced children to the habits and customs of "exotic" peoples: Lapps, Siamese, Patagons, up to a total of twelve, one for each month of the year.
L'abbaco di Giannettino per le scuole elementari (Firenze, Paggi, 1884).
Libro di lezioni per la seconda classe elementare (Firenze, Paggi, 1885).
Un'antipatia (Roma, Perino, 1885)
Reprint of a story with the same title, previously published in Macchiette: predictably, it was published here for the "Biblioteca umoristica" series.
La geografia di Giannettino (Firenze, Paggi, 1886).
Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino. Parte terza (l'Italia meridionale) (Firenze, Paggi, 1886). See Giannettino.
Storie allegre (Firenze, Paggi, 1887)
This short-story collection was reprinted several times in the "Giornale per i bambini", with Pipì, o lo scimmiottino color di rosa standing out, a sort of long, articulate, and self-parodic continuation of The Adventures of Pinocchio. A book review describes Collodi as the most brilliant of writers of the newly created Italian children's literature. It was also often reprinted in the 1900s, with some stories from the original removed, as well as 19th-century reprints.
Libro di lezioni per la terza classe elementare (Firenze, Paggi, 1889).
La lanterna magica di Giannettino (Firenze, Bemporad, 1890).
Divagazioni critico-umoristiche, raccolte e ordinate da Giuseppe Rigutini (postumo, Firenze, Bemporad, 1892)
Like Note gaie, this collection of texts and articles (all published, in this case) was compiled and revised, sometimes drastically, by Giuseppe Rigutini, philologist and Collodi’s friend, at the request of his brother Paolo Lorenzini.
Note gaie, raccolte e ordinate da Giuseppe Rigutini (postumo, Firenze, Bemporad, 1892);
Bettino Ricasoli, Camillo Cavour, Luigi Carlo Farini, Daniele Manin. Biografie del Risorgimento (postumo, Firenze, Marzocco, 1941)
A collection of occasional articles on some of the Risorgimento’s leading figures, collected and republished to celebrate Florence’s tribute to the writer and a testament to his passion for politics. However, the scholar Daniela Marcheschi hypothesized that this is not one of Collodi’s works for content, style, and historical-philological reasons.
I ragazzi grandi. Bozzetti e studi dal vero, a cura di Daniela Marcheschi; con una nota di Carlo Alberto Madrignani (Palermo, Sellerio, 1989)
Reprint of the two-part novel published in 1873 as a serialized supplement in the "Fanfulla"; likewise, an adaptation of the play by the same name, staged in Florence that same year.
Cronache dall'Ottocento, a cura di Daniela Marcheschi
Collection of newspaper articles, never before reprinted, published by Carlo Collodi (under various pseudonyms) in humorous periodicals from that era.
For an extensive bibliography of Collodian works (including those published in periodicals), it is advisable to consult:
Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Carlo Lorenzini, Pescia-Firenze, 2009 et seqq. Vol. 1-5 published (as of 2020);
Collodi giornalista e scrittore, a cura di Riccardo Maini e Piero Scapecchi. Firenze, S.P.E.S. 1981
Carlo Collodi, Opere, a cura di Daniela Marcheschi. Milano, Mondadori 1995, coll. I Meridiani
For the biography:
Renato Bertacchini, Il padre di Pinocchio, Milano, Camunia, 1993
Cronologia, in: Carlo Collodi, Opere, a cura di Daniela Marcheschi. Milano, Mondadori 1995
