Fairytales: The Secret Town of Pinocchio

Anna Savino, tour guide for Italianna Food & Wine Tours and American ex-pat living in Cuneo, Italy, takes us on a visit to Vernante, as small village in the Piemonte region, and shares the secrets behind why this charming place has become “The Town of Pinocchio.”

Why would a small Alpine village on the French/Italian border be called the “Town of Pinocchio”? Carlo Collodi, an Italian author from Florence started writing the Adventures With Pinocchio in 1881 when it was a children's magazine series. This encouraged literacy and became extremely successful but when the story ended with Pinocchio being hanged the audience was not happy. Collodi accepted the protest and eventually finished the story with a happy ending. Pinocchio the wooden marionette finally became a moral human being in flesh and blood.

In 1911 the most successful and award winning edition was released when Pinocchio was given a sort of make-over and was illustrated for the first time in color by the talented Turin born Attilio Mussino. To complete the pictures in the book, it took him 3 years to finish! Mussino played a huge role in the success of Pinocchio which was eventually translated in over 200 languages and made into the well known Disney movie.

Mussino spent the last 10 years of his life in a small village called Vernante where his second wife left many of his works to the town museum and “pro-loco”. They were given the rights to paint the scenes of the story on the buildings and walls throughout the town. The museum holds many original pieces of artwork by “the Uncle of Pinocchio”, Mussino and is now called the “Town of Pinocchio”. Watch my video about this small Piemontese town, Vernante where Mussino is buried.