Carlo Collodi is the pen name of Italian writer Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 – October 26, 1890) who achieved worldwide recognition as the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio.  He was born one of eleven children in Florence and raised in his mother’s home town of Collodi. He served in the Tuscan army during the Italian Wars of Independence in 1848 and 1860 and took an active interest in political affairs, founding the satirical newspaper Il Lamopione, which was censored by the Grand Duke of Tuscany but resurrected in 1860. He achieved fame with his novel In vapore in 1856 and worked extensively for political newspapers, writing satirical sketches and stories, most notably Giannettino, a series of stories speculating on the reunification of Italy through the ironic thoughts and actions of the title character. His entry into children’s literature began with a translation of French Fairy tales by Perrault in 1875. He began work on “the story of a marionette” in 1880 which became The Adventures of Pinocchio. At the time of his death in 1890 he was well respected as a writer and social commentator, but unaware of the worldwide recognition he would achieve with the 1892 English translation by Mary Alice Murray.