When I was a child, my parents used to tell me fables to make me sleep. Two of the most popular children’s authors in Italy aren’t Italian at all but German. I’m talking about brothers Grimm. If you don’t know them, they wrote stories such as Cinderella, The frog prince, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, fables that are quite popular in many countries.
So, before going to sleep I could hear part of Cinderella’s or Rapunzel’s story.
However, some days my parents chose to read me an Italian children’s author, instead. There are many children’s authors in Italy, but I generally listened to Gianni Rodari’s tales, and they became soon some of my favorites.
Gianni Rodari’s life
Gianni Rodari is a modern author, and he’s considered the most important Italian children’s author of the 20th century.
Gianni Rodari was born in 1920, in Omegna, Piedmont. When he was 8 years old his father died and he was raised with his two brothers by his mother. At 17 years old, he got his teaching diploma and started to teach in elementary schools.
When World War II came, Rodari’s financial situation wasn’t very good and so he decided to apply for work at the Casa del Fascio, a building that housed the National Fascist Party. However, when he was hired, he was forced to join the National Fascist Party.
Some time later, shocked by the loss of two of his best friends and by his brother incarceration in a Concentration camp, he decided to leave the Fascist Party and join the Communist Party, instead. Also, he joined the Italian resistance movement in 1944.
After the war, he became a journalist for the Communist periodical L’Unità and he started to write children’s books.
Some of Rodari’s most known fables are Le avventure di Cipollino, Gelsomino nel paese dei bugiardi, Favole al telefono, C’era due volte il barone Lamberto.
Le avventure di Cipollino – Little onion’s adventures – is set in a town inhabited by plants and fruits, ruled by Prince lemon. The prince’s rules are senseless and oppress the population. So, Cipollino decides to lead an uprising. They’ll manage to change things in town without using violence but using only mockery and jokes.
Gelsomino nel paese dei bugiardi is about Gelsomino, a boy with a very powerful voice, so powerful that he can break windows, and change the trajectory of a ball during a match. Because of that he causes a lot of trouble, even if he doesn’t want to. To escape the bad reputation, he has gained in years, he moves to another town. Soon, he discovers that in that town everything works the other way round, for example the red is considered green, only fake money is accepted while real money is forbidden. All this because the king of the town has ordered that people are not allowed to tell the truth, they can only lie. If they fail to do so, they’ll be imprisoned. Gelsomino, however, has always been extremely honest and so he’ll try to change things.
Favole al telefono is a collection of fables. The protagonist of the book is Mr. Bianchi, a drug representative. Because of his job, Mr. Bianchi always travels around Italy, leaving his wife and daughter alone at home. To make feel his daughter he’s close to her despite him being far away, every night, at 9pm he calls his family and tells his daughter a new story. The stories are quite short since he can’t afford to stay on the phone for a very long time or he would spend too much but they’re so entertaining that even the switchboard operators stop working to listen to them.
C’era due volte il barone Lamberto is set on Saint Julios ile, in Piedmont, where Baron Lamberto lives. Lamberto is extremely rich and extremely old and he’s always sick. In particular he’s 24 illnesses. To try to stay healthy, Lamberto asks his staff to repeat his name over and over again. Indeed, he learnt from an Arab guru that this is the only way he has to feel better. And the method seems to work. However, Lamberto’s nephew, whose only purpose is to get his hands on his uncle’s inheritance, gets on the ile. In addition, a group of criminals gets to the ile as well with the purpose of kidnapping Lamberto and ask for a big ransom. Will Lamberto manage to live for other 100 years?
Rodari’s books can be a good choice if you’re searching for something different to entertain your kids.
Have you ever read some of Rodari’s books? Which one? Did you like them? Are there other Italian children’s authors you like?
If you found this article useful, don’t forget to share it or to like my Facebook page!
Credits
Original image by 5311692
At an Italian doctor’s office
