Carlo Collodi (1826–1890) was the pen name of Italian author Carlo Lorenzini, a pseudonym he borrowed from his mother’s hometown. Collodi enjoyed a varied professional life, attending seminary, founding a satirical newspaper, serving in the Tuscan army, and working as a dramatist, though he is best remembered for writing The Adventures of Pinocchio, and inventing the classic title character, a mischievous wooden puppet who learns—and teaches—lessons about what it means to be human.
