My attraction with Italy's beloved "Pinocchio"

I have always had a fondness and affiliation with the character of Pinocchio.  As I was maturing through my faith, my formal education, and through my experiences of parenting, I was discovering the beauty of the story of Pinocchio by Carlo Lorenzini. Let me explain a little more clearly how I came to love Pinocchio so much. As a high school Italian teacher I chose to use a beginning reader in Italian II, an abridged version of the Italian novel by Carlo Collodi entitled “Le Avventure di Pinocchio.”  As I was  using this text in my high school curriculum in the teaching of Italian, I was learning more about my faith as a catechist, I was learning strategies to improve students’ reading comprehension through my degree as a reading specialist, and I was learning so much about children as a mother of three beautiful children. For over twenty years I used the reader of Pinocchio in my high school curriculum and I created a learning scenario for the teaching of  “Le Avventure di Pinocchio” that became very popular in my teaching circles among my colleagues. I gave many presentations in school districts, at state and national foreign language conventions as well as at various workshops of the AATI, AATF, and other foreign language organizations.  My enthusiasm and passion for the teaching of Pinocchio was known by those who knew me and by my students. Though I enjoyed teaching so many other cultural topics in the Italian curriculum, the teaching of “The Adventures of Pinocchio” was my favorite didactic unit to teach in the teaching of Italian because every time that I would teach the unit I would appreciate some new aspect of Pinocchio that connected with increased knowledge of my faith and Scripture, with improved reading strategies in the foreign language classroom and with increased wisdom as a parent of three children.

So, let’s begin by saying that Carlo Collodi (Lorenzini) was the author and creator of Pinocchio, the wooden boy puppet who came to life only after many trials and tribulations that taught him ultimately how to love sacrificially as God loves us. Roberto Benigni, the great Italian actor and comedian realized his dream of co-writing, directing, and starring in the film version of “Pinocchio,” based on the original fable of Carlo Collodi. The film was well received in Europe but in the United States, it was not appreciated because Americans had been raised on Walt Disney’s heavily edited and sanitized version of Pinocchio. I would always be very satisfied at the completion of teaching my Pinocchio unit because my American students would enthusiastically show a preference for Roberto Benigni’s film over Walt Disney

ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZdRMed2jC0
Remember Pinocchio? Not Disney's version but this one or Roberto Benigni's? I just resaw this for the umptheenth time and I always loved watching it and teaching it to my students: The little puppet who worked to become a real boy! Actually, my students would always learn that beyond the fond Disney story they knew, they realized that the original story by Lorenzini was a very profound story because it has to do with what it means to be human and what we are made for...CARITAS or Sacrificial Love! I just read Anthony DeStefano's book, A TravellGuide to Life and he states what I always taught about Pinocchio when we read the abridged version of The Adventures of Pinocchio that the story has to do with free will and what it means to be an authentically human being. In other words, Pinocchio learns how to love through Christian biblical overtones. What is interesting is that DeStefano also says that we, today are living the Pinocchio story in reverse. That is to say that instead of becoming children of God and becoming real, loving and free human beings, we spend our lives trying to become puppets. I think he is right! I have always been a non-conformist and my parents and Pinocchio taught me this very important mantra of my life...not to follow the current, but to follow your heart and your intellect just as Dante did in the Divine Comedy. This never gets old for me.LOL Love it