La letteratura per l’infanzia è cosa seria : di come a Berlino Ciondolino si trasforma in Codino

Children’s literature was the focus of much attention in post‐revolutionary Russia: new magazines, publishing houses, bulletins were founded which sparked debate both around the role of detskaya literatura and the reform of the education system. Also amongst Russian émigrés there was a felt need to provide “new books for younger readers” and intense discussions took place. Translated books played an important role within this “new canon” of children’s literature. This article focuses on the work of the writer Nina Petrovskaya, as a cultural mediator and translator of Italian children’s literature into Russian, investigating, in particular, her version of Luigi Bertelli’s Ciondolino.