A Visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi

What could be a fun and unusual destination for a day trip in Tuscany? Having already visited some relatively hidden gems of Tuscany, we were looking for something completely new to do. That is how me and my partner came up with a visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi.

One of the earliest memories of my partner is getting lost in this theme park devoted to the world-famous puppet-boy. Having heard his story of desperately looking for his mother from inside the terrible dogfish and in the maze of the garden labyrinth, I was all in for investigating the location of this event.

Collodi and the Pinocchio Park

The Pinocchio Park is located in Collodi, the native village of Carlo Lorenzini. He is better known by his pen name Carlo Collodi. This Italian author and journalist became world-famous with “The Adventures of Pinocchio”. The adventures were first published as a series of stories in 1881 in the Giornale dei bambini (“Children’s Magazine”) and came out as a book in 1883.

Carlo Lorenzini was born in Florence. His mother worked at the impressive Villa Garzoni in Collodi, and Carlo spent lots of time in this hillside village as a child. Later, he took Collodi to be his pen name.

The Pinocchio Park was first opened in 1956. It began with two works of art, the famous mosaic piazza, Piazzeta dei Mosaici by Venturino Venturi and the sculpture “Pinocchio and the Fairy” by Emilio Greco. The park was expanded in the 1970s, as several Italian artists contributed with sculptures depicting characters and settings from Pinocchio’s adventures. In total, the park includes 21 bronze and steel sculptures. New locations and activities have been added, and the current version also includes the Pinocchio Museum and the Pinocchio Virtual Library.

A Walk in the Pinocchio Park

Let me start out by saying that if you consider a visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi as a day trip, you should consider again. Chances are that the park is not what you expect. I believe that time spent reading the actual book, “The Adventures of Pinocchio” is time better used than time spent in the park. Below, I will try to explain why.

The entrance for the Pinocchio Park in August 2022 was 25 euros per adult. The ticket includes a visit to the nearby Butterfly House, located in the fantastic Ganzoni Garden just below the hillside Villa Ganzoni. Unfortunately, the garden and the Butterfly House were more worth the prize than the Pinocchio Park itself.

A visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi should be a fun experience. For us, the park ended up making us a little bit sad and disappointed. The park is a depressing example of wasting the potential of beautiful things by letting them rotten without maintenance and adequate care. Don’t believe any of the touristic sites that praise the experiences provided by this park, even underlining it’s “retro ambience”. For me, there is no retro ambience in museum objects from the 1950’s that are in an absolutely terrifying condition. There is nothing retro about dust and spiderwebs covering the remains of what used to be a nice little park.

The classic sculptures located outside in the park, representing Pinocchio’s story, were probably once okay. Nevertheless, one can have many opinions of their artistic and aesthetic value. I feel that very few children would get exited about navigating this steel and bronze show of art from decades past. In addition, circulating in an unkempt park among these figures is simply not doing justice to the story of Pinocchio. The old sculptures and other elements of the park are not well taken care of. The park looks like things were put there in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and nothing was cleaned, let alone replaced, in the decades to come.

The old toys on display in the caravans of Mangiafuoco and the Fairy with Turquoise Hair are literally horror shows for the smallest members of the family.

Throughout the decades, more things have been added to the park. The park sports for example a pirate island and a site where children can do a cableway experience. Sadly, “The Adventures of Pinocchio” does not include anything about pirates. Hence, adding these kind of things to attract clients is not a way to honor the legacy of Claudio Collodi. Perhaps even worst, many of the new add-ons do not work or are out of use. For example, when we visited the park, there was a hanging bridge out of use because they were waiting for an engineer to come and test its safety.

The Pinocchio Museum fails to tell the story of Pinocchio and Carlo Collodi. It is not captivating, interesting, nor beautifully put together. Half of the so called interactional interfaces don’t work. I can only imagine the disappointment of a child walking through that gallery of black screens. That can only match the disappointment of a kid navigating a pathway to look at the house of the Fairy with Turquoise Hair and finding a little hut constructed of the bottom parts of old bottles. Inside of this weird construction is a strange light blue thing (probably trying to represent the fairy, but I’m not sure) covered in spiderwebs and dirt.

In short, the park has been left on its own devices decades ago. The new add on parts either have nothing to do with Pinocchio or are simply not working in the way they should. The park is old, dirty, and unkempt. Our experiences of the park were unanimously shared by all our local friends in Tuscany. One of them described the park as “brutto, brutto, brutto” (ugly, ugly, ugly). This makes me think that some of the praising opinions you find on touristic websites and blogs are paid views -in other words, corrupted marketing. For sure, beautiful pictures can be taken in many parts of the park. Just based on the nice pictures below, I could write an admiring blog post, entirely covering my true feelings about the park. I choose not to do so.

Like many adults visiting the locations of their, childhood memories, my partner was surprised of how small everything was. The gigantic labyrinth where he tried to look for his mother turned out to be a small little thing. The massive whale among whose teeth he was running was this old minuscule thing sprouting water from the top of its head. The big pathways on which he was running were narrow little paths surrounded by dense vegetation. When visiting the locations of your childhood, you are not the same person anymore. That changes the places themselves, too.

Visiting the Garzoni Garden and the Butterfly House

If you decide to have a visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi, I would bet that the place most worth for your money is likely going to be a visit to Casa delle Farfalle. The Butterfly House is located in the corner of the beautiful Garzoni garden.

Inside the hot and humid Eden of Casa delle Farfalle you will find butterflies native to equatorial and tropical regions. The hotter it is, the more the farfallas move. Walking amongst the greenery you can observe all the different stages of butterfly development. You will also encounter several turtles looking at you in their lazy but judging way from a little pond. In addition, you will spot a budgie or another small bird chattering at you or speeding through the leaves of the high tropical trees.

The Garzoni garden is beautiful with its flower beds and fountains. We ventured up the high stairs to take a look at the Garzoni villa. This endeavour that was pretty rough in the 37 degrees of heat. The villa itself replicates the unfortunately standard Tuscanian story. Lots of beauty and potential forgotten, not maintained or cared for, just left to rotten.

After this sweaty hike up to the villa you might be in need of refreshments. One option is Ristorante Villa Garzoni, a restaurant that seems a nice place for weddings. To my taste, this restaurant is a bit too posh and pricey. The staff has a relatively aggressive upselling attitude that is not customary in less touristic places in Tuscany. That being said, their ice cream is pretty nice!

All in all, if you decide to pay a visit to the Pinocchio Park in Collodi, don’t set high expectations for the Pinocchio part. Instead, look for the Butterfly House and the Garzoni Park as your main destinations. The Pinocchio Park could have been so beautiful but instead, it is a dead monument of neglect and greed. 25 euros is just too much for entrance. That being said, I really hope that a miracle happens and the park ends up in hands that are willing to upgrade it into the beautiful fairy land it could be. Just starting from some basic cleaning and throwing away rotting rubbish would be a good start.