Una cattedra per Pinocchio. Le origini e gli sviluppi della ricerca pedagogica sulla Letteratura per l’infanzia nell’Università di Bologna

Abstract

In 1982, the University of Bologna was one of the first Italian academic institutions to provide itself with a chair in children’s literature: the article reconstructs the origin and development of this presence that had Antonio Faeti as its first professor. Faeti’s in-depth research on the history of illustrations and on children’s tales in the Seventies – consider his essay Guardare le figure (1972) – represented a decisive turning point in the analysis of this sector, which until then had been marginal, and contributed finally to the affirmation of academic studies on children’s literature. The scientific relevance of Faeti’s research is also indicated by the deep relationships between our scholar and some important exponents of the philosophy of education (Telmon and Bertin) and of Italian culture (Fellini, Calvino, Celati). The chair of children’s literature in Bologna was established in a university particularly open to innovative studies and in a city very attentive to youth culture: this combination of opportunities has made it possible to create a “Bolognese school” of research on children’s literature that continues to promote Faeti’s precious scientific legacy.