Pinocchio was written by Carlo Collodi, who took this pseudonym after the village of Collodi, a mere 15 minutes from Lucca, on the road to Pescia.

Today Collodi's main attraction is the Pinocchio Park.

The park is very expensive in my opinion, 9 euros for adults and 7 for kids 3 and over is a lot. The whole park is nicely shaded which makes it an ideal destination on a hot summer day. Inside the park are over a dozen play stations: a labyrinth, the Pirates' Grotto, Mostro the Giant Whale... plus a few nicely restored old-fashion carousels (you will have to pay 1 euro per ride for those) and a small outdoor puppet theater. Every 15mn there is a Pinocchio-related show at the theater. The show is in Italian but is usually visual enough that anybody can enjoy it.

Overall I do not find the park very impressive, but every time we have taken our son there he has loved it and only agreed to leave if we promised we would take him back.

posted by michel, 2005-08-17