Pinocchio has been a recurring presence in Pietro Arnoldi’s work for many years. He is not merely the character from Collodi’s story, but a figure through whom the artist reconnects with the playfulness, curiosity, and freedom of childhood.
This connection also comes from the material itself. Pietro grew up watching his father, a carpenter, work with wood and, many years later, rediscovered in sculpture that same pleasure of learning through making. In his Pinocchios, the puppet constantly changes form and character: he runs, plays music, gets angry, meets the Cat and the Fox, becomes a schoolboy or a professor. Always recognisable yet always different, Pinocchio becomes a way of exploring the experiences, contradictions, and possibilities of being human.
PINOCCHIO IN TRAREGO VIGGIONA
At Pianaccio in Trarego Viggiona, a large chestnut tree that had reached the end of its life cycle was transformed into The Tree of Fairy Tales, a monumental sculpture approximately six metres high.
Pietro Arnoldi worked directly into the trunk with a chainsaw, bringing the characters and episodes of Pinocchio’s story out of the wood. Within the great tree, Pinocchio and Geppetto appear inside the belly of the whale, alongside the Cat and the Fox and other figures from the tale.
The tree does not disappear behind the sculpture: its original form, scale, and material remain clearly visible. The old chestnut thus becomes the setting of the story itself, transforming a tree at the end of its life into a work dedicated to play, transformation, and vitality.
PINOCCHIO OF TRAREGO VIGGIONA
RASSEGNA STAMPA
Pinocchio has been a recurring presence in Pietro Arnoldi’s work for many years. He is not merely the character from Collodi’s story, but a figure through whom the artist reconnects with the playfulness, curiosity, and freedom of childhood.
This connection also comes from the material itself. Pietro grew up watching his father, a carpenter, work with wood and, many years later, rediscovered in sculpture that same pleasure of learning through making. In his Pinocchios, the puppet constantly changes form and character: he runs, plays music, gets angry, meets the Cat and the Fox, becomes a schoolboy or a professor. Always recognisable yet always different, Pinocchio becomes a way of exploring the experiences, contradictions, and possibilities of being human.
At Pianaccio in Trarego Viggiona, a large chestnut tree that had reached the end of its life cycle was transformed into The Tree of Fairy Tales, a monumental sculpture approximately six metres high.
Pietro Arnoldi worked directly into the trunk with a chainsaw, bringing the characters and episodes of Pinocchio’s story out of the wood. Within the great tree, Pinocchio and Geppetto appear inside the belly of the whale, alongside the Cat and the Fox and other figures from the tale.
The tree does not disappear behind the sculpture: its original form, scale, and material remain clearly visible. The old chestnut thus becomes the setting of the story itself, transforming a tree at the end of its life into a work dedicated to play, transformation, and vitality.