The philosopher Benedetto Croce stated that the wood Pinocchio was sculpted from was that of humanity itself. And, in truth, this disobedient boy, easily influenced by bad company, a liar and prepared to flee from the home of his creator but nevertheless endowed with a profound kindness and an intuitive sense of justice, does represent a timeless symbol of infancy, of the children that we all were and shall be. And that explains just why this classic of the children’s genre turned into one of the great works of universal literature.