Pinocchio

Everyone knows Pinocchio, the walking, talking wooden puppet carved from a table leg. Sold to a circus, then to a man who tries to drown him for his donkey-skin, he miraculously turns back into a puppet and goes in search of his 'father' (whom he must rescue from the belly of a giant dogfish ...).

Italian author and journalist.
Carlo Collodi was born Carlo Lorenzini in Florence, the son of Domenico Lorenzini, a cook, and Angela Orzali, a servant. Collodi was the first of ten children
At the age of 22, he became a journalist to work for Italian independence struggle, and in 1848 he founded the satirical journal Il Lampione, which was suppressed in 1849.
In 1861, when Italy became a united nation, Collodi gave up journalism, and after 1870 he settled down as a theatrical censor and magazine editor. He turned soon to children's fantasy, translating Italian versions of the fairy tales of the French writer Charles Perrault.
The original illustration for Pinnocchio was made by Eugenio Mazzanti (1883). The story was translated into English in 1892 by M.A. Murray. - Collodi died in Florence on October 26, 1890. He never married.