Once upon a time,
a boy named Carlino lived with his grandparents and parents in a big building in a big city. He spent his afternoons at the window of his room watching the sky, often gray, above him; the coming and going of cars on the street; the patter of passersby with children, dogs....
Many people lived in his building, but no one knew each other, no one ever stopped to chat, no one ever laughed. Carlino often daydreamed, dreaming of a world all his own, made of blue skies with white clouds that looked like whipped cream, of happy, cheerful people, a world where there were child-friendly towns, without cars and confusion, and he hoped that one day he and his whole family would really live in such a world.
One night Carlino, while lying in his bed, saw a light filtering through the blinds of the window, and he thought he heard shouts, laughter, and someone calling him with a very sweet voice: Carlino! Carlino!
The boy jumped out of bed and opening the window he saw a wonderful sight: the sky had turned blue and a myriad of colorful hot air balloons were suspended there with the lightness that only soap bubbles can have.
Inside each one he could glimpse cheerful, happy people, singing and dancing... and in the distance on a cloud that looked like whipped cream he managed to spot a little village, "that little village" he had dreamed of so much,
that world he had so longed for. And again that voice calling him: Carlino! Carlino! We have come to get you just as you wished!
And so it was that Carlino and his whole family boarded a hot air balloon and left for that world he had always dreamed of.
Alessandro Pantani's work on the illustrations seems to have been born from the sheer pleasure of creating a corner of the world where everyone would like to live and where an idyllic atmosphere brings us back to distant romantic dreams.