Parco De Pinocchio

You may not know this, but Pinocchio is no Disney creation. Pinocchio was created by Carlos Collodi (his pen name) or Carlos Lorenzini, his real name. He grew up in the town of Collodi (which is where he got his pen name) and that is also where he got inspiration for his story. In 1956, a park opened to commemorate the writer and the story. The park, was the Parco De Pinocchio (Park Of Pinocchio).

The Park Of Pinocchio is not a Theme park as you might think, (that's what we thought at first) but instead a park with a theme. As you enter, you see a statue of Pinocchio with Geppeto, his Father. Then, all through out the park there are statues and other artistic works to help tell the original story. For example, when the great shark comes and swallows Pinocchio and he finds Geppeto, the park has a Giant sculpture of the head of the gaping Shark. Yes, it was a shark and not a whale that swallowed them. You can go inside the large beast and see Geppeto trapped inside. Then you can see a sculpture of Pinocchio turned into a donkey and forced to perform in a circus. My personal 2 favorite things were the giant shark and the giant chess board, (even though we didn't get to play a game of chess!) All along the route of the maze of greenery, sculptures tell the story. There is also a theatre where every hour or so they tell the story of Pinocchio, a mechanical theatre where there are small puppets that move by themselves, telling the story of Pinocchio, with a booklet in your language to help you understand it, a crafts area where you can make a hat with The Blue Fairy or Pinocchio on it and last but not least, 3 things that resemble a merry-go-round. One you sit in a Gondola or a Sailboat, in another, different types of cars and also, a classic merry-go-round with horses. There is also a butterfly garden and regular garden you can visit but they are not connected to Pinocchio so we didn't go.