Do you remember the old Walt Disney movies? Well, my favourite film was always Pinocchio (1940) even though I remember being quite frightened by the story as a child, especially when he got swallowed by the whale! Roberto Benigni also made a good ‘life like’ version a few years ago in 2002. The author of the story was Carlo Lorenzini Collodi. He was born in Florence but his mother was from the village of Collodi near Pescia where she worked in the Villa Garzoni there.
The Villa Garzoni is a fabulous house with a grand terraced garden that cascades down the hillside into the lower village with the ‘Parco di Pinocchio’ which is very popular with children as you can imagine. There is also a giant, rather bizarre, Pinocchio statue here as well. There are many souvenir shops here selling all sorts of colourful versions of Pinocchio puppets
The Villa and gardens are a great sight to see. Hannah Gordon I remember did the final of Watercolour Challenge (do you remember that!!) here a while ago, so beautiful it is. The old village sits atop the house, tumbling down the hill; the houses funnelling down steeply like stones falling into the rear walls of the Villa Garzoni. Exploring the terraced gardens here you can imagine how the lords and ladies on the Grand Tour of Europe found their ideas for their country houses in England.
The old village is a very pretty place to explore, though you need the ankles and calves of a mule to wander it’s streets. Lots of terraced streets with flower pots and colourful beds, and a very nice way to spend a sunny afternoon…….searching for the blue fairy of course.