Le lune di Pinocchio

In «The Adventures of Pinocchio» (1881-1883) the Moon is ephemeral. However, during the first few decades of the twentieth century, it became a regular feature in stories where the main character is either Pinocchio himself or was inspired by him. This essay aims to examine the features, recurring reasons and the possible sources of texts that, in the first half of the twentieth century, established a relationship between Pinocchio and the Moon. The ‘pinocchiate’ (the various tales of Pinocchio written by different authors) contain both humour and didactic-descriptive lessons; they follow simple but proven narrative models with a common interest in progress and the future. They endow Collodi’s original Pinocchio with new characteristics and send him on novel adventures. Thematically and stylistically, these stories are part of a literary tradition that leads from classicism to Jules Verne and Emilio Salgari and take inspiration from authors of contemporary children’s fiction.