A lecture by Anna Kraczyna
How a 150-Year-Old Italian puppet has become an icon of our times
In an age of fake news, authoritarianism, and AI, The Adventures of Pinocchio speaks to us with uncanny clarity. Though written nearly 150 years ago, Carlo Collodi’s masterpiece has never felt more relevant. Its core themes—education, learning from experience, empathy, and human connection—are precisely the values we must preserve to hold on to our humanity in a time when truth is blurred, power manipulates, and technology challenges what it means to be human.
It is no surprise that Pinocchio remains the world’s most widely read non-religious book. The puppet’s journey is more than a moral fable—it is a mirror held up to every era, including our own. Because once you are truly human, politicians can no longer deceive and control you; people cannot exploit you—no one can pull your strings.
Anna Kraczyna was born and raised in Florence by American artist parents. She works as a translator and lectures on Italian language, literature, and culture at American colleges in Florence.
Her in-depth research into the linguistic and cultural dimensions of The Adventures of Pinocchio led to a coauthored article with John Hooper for The New York Times in 2019, and to their acclaimed annotated translation for Penguin Classics (2021).
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please register here or send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it
The registration fee is 15 Euro per person.
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This lecture is sponsored by Alice Vogler