The World of Pinocchio: 140 years of the puppet’s adventures

Through October 1, 2023

Hours: 9:30am-12:30pm, 2:00-5:00pm

Not everyone knows, or remembers, that Pinocchio was born… in the province of Lucca! In fact, the town of Collodi, in the period in which Carlo Lorenzini frequented it, fell within the area of the Province of Lucca: this is why it can be said that Lucca has “given birth” to the most famous puppet in the world. To celebrate this little-known “authorship”, a long-standing collaboration between the Antica Zecca di Lucca Foundation, chaired by Alessandro Colombini, and the Carlo Collodi National Foundation, led by Pier Francesco Bernacchi, who organize an exhibition in which it is told – in new and curious way – how Pinocchio grew up in these first 140 years of life.

Various texts are on display in the rooms of the Mint Museum: an anastatic copy of the first edition of The Adventures of Pinocchio from 1883, other books and many objects from which it is easy to understand how the puppet managed to become the most translated book in the world, after the Bible and the Koran, inspiring artistic productions in many fields. Also on display are the lost wax statues of Luciano Capriotti, aka Capri Otti, a Roman artist, which for the first time come out of the museum itinerary of the Pinocchio Park.

There are no less than 38 statuettes linked to the events of the puppet, evocative and suggestive art objects; next to them we find a beautiful collection of puppets made by the students of the Dorothean Sisters of Lucca, collector’s items donated to the Collodi Foundation, a hundred Pinocchio toys made by the craftsman Onigel Ruffato of Dolo and the famous five gold “sequins” made from the Ancient Mint of Lucca.

tel. 0583 582320
email info@zeccadilucca.it.
Cost: €4/€6 or free for children up to 12 years old