Collodi, Italy

Welcome to my adventure through Collodi, a village in Italy just outside of Tuscany. This is where my ancestors called home! The focal point of my blog through Collodi is Villa Garzoni, the castle and gardens of the Garzoni family. I like to think that this is our family's history since we have inherited the name Garzoni, but as of yet we haven't found proof for or against this claim.

Garden side of Garzoni Castle and pools

Collodi is an ancient medieval village that is also know as Pinocchio' s village. Located at the foot of this village is Villa Garzoni, which was built in the early 1600s by the powerful Garzoni family and is often called the Castle of 100 windows. The castle has a massive structure including four floors and the central part of the castle is raised. Some elements that stand out and accentuate the grandiose character about the castle include the flights of stairs, the Garzoni family's coat of arms with flag trophies placed above the door, and the place for the two guardsmen by its side. The villa has had it's fair share of famous visitors, including Napoleon, who is said to have stayed in one of the bedrooms.

Angel above the gardens

The villa is famous for it's baroque style gardens and remains one of the most famous examples of an Italian garden. The lower garden is made up of flowers, hedges, and pools. Located througout the garden and steps are many unique features such as two large circular pools with jets of water and grottoes, the statues of Flora, the Faun, Diana, Bacchus, Apollo and Daphne. There are a double flight of steps, whose supporting walls contain niches decorated with statues in terracotta, gargoyles, fountains and plays of water, leads down from the parterre to the various levels of the garden. Over all, the Villa and it's gardens represent the better style, tradition and taste of Tuscan nobility during the 1700s.

Villa Garzoni's gardens

About 200 meters from Villa Garzoni you can find Pinocchio Park, which was inspired by children’s literature and the Story of Pinocchio. The park was created by great artists working together and through their art the tale of Pinocchio comes to life. The author of Pinocchio, Carlo Lorenzini (or as known by his pen name, Collodi) was origionally from Collodi and his father was known to have worked in the kitchen at Villa Garzoni.

Pinocchio Park

My dream is to visit Collodi, Italy and Garzoni Villa. To walk the streets my ancestors walked and to take in the beauty they left behind for us. If I could only visit one country in the world, I wouldn't think twice about my choice, it would be Italy.

"You may have the universe if I may have Italy."- Giuseppe Verdi