Over 50 years have passed since the Committee for the Monument to Pinocchio publicly presented the first results of an intensive two years of activity: the exhibition that brought together in the convent of San Michele a Pescia the 86 sketches submitted by the 84 competitors who had responded to the competition notice launched in the previous Spring. An appraisal of that competition and that decision which led to the creation of the Pinocchio Park (visited so far by over seven million people from all over Italy and the rest of the world), is undoubtedly of great importance, also to illuminate certain aspects of the activity and debate taking place in the art world in the 50s as well as the political climate of the time. However, the main goal upon which the action of the Committee for the Monument to Pinocchio was focused was not prevalently artistic, and still less political: it was a much more broadly cultural and educational objective, that aimed to entrust to the art not only the revocation of the story of Pinocchio, but also an independent message: the encouragement and stimulus to discover or rediscover great literature written for children, and its values. The Committee was composed of eminent figures from the academic and art worlds who based each decision and choice on intentions and visions of a cultural nature which in their scope and depth went far beyond the contingent Italian and local situation of the time. This is moreover proved by the longevity, and the capacity to develop and regenerate while holding true to themselves, that both the Pinocchio Park and the Collodi Foundation have demonstrated in all their subsequent history.