Lamp post

The northern Italian lamp posts are reminiscent of the old gas lamps, but are in fact modern versions preserving a more traditional appearance. These romantic gas lamps were introduced in the larger European cities from the early years of the nineteenth century and onward. Back then, however, there was nothing romantic about the lamps; they were merely state of the art. In 1848, the Florentine writer Carlo Collodi named his politically satirical journal “Il Lampione” or “the lamp post” with the declared objective "to spread light among those fumbling in the dark." A light of change was indeed shed on political life, and it did not take long before the hard-boiled satirical journal was banned. Today it is an example of the political breakthrough leading to Italy’s unification as a state in 1861. Carlo Collodi would later be a successful author of children’s books, such as Pinocchio, earning him worldwide fame from its launch in 1881.