Roberto Papetti, the master and poet of recycled toys

At 16, just a boy who loved the sea, Roberto Papetti, born in Ravenna to a family of fishermen and sailors originally from Lussino, landed in Dunkirk and left his job as a cabin boy on the merchant ship Rubicone to return to Italy by train and follow his passion for art, enrolling at the Mosaic Art Institute and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna.

After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna, Papetti didn't pursue a traditional artistic career centered around galleries and the art market. Instead, he combined art, education, and play. In the 1970s and 1980s, he began extensive research into folk toys, play traditions, and the creative reuse of materials. He studied rural games and met educators and play scholars such as Mario Lodi, Ettore Guatelli, and Gianfranco Zavalloni, developing his own pedagogical vision based on manual creativity and ecology. This led to the creation and direction of the educational center The Lizard, Promoted by the Municipality of Ravenna. For over thirty years, Papetti worked there as a coordinator and facilitator, organizing workshops on environmental education, toy making, art, and educational experiments for children and teachers. The message was simple yet powerful: every discarded object can have a second life, and every child can become an inventor. For him, recycling is not just an ecological practice, but a creative act capable of transforming the world with new eyes.And the characteristic that made Papetti famous was the ability to give new life to abandoned objects. Old fruit crates They become fantastic animals, bicycle parts are transformed into imaginary creatures and machines, salvaged wood is transformed into totems, spinning tops, and playable sculptures. This ongoing research has given rise to works such as "Gioclette," "Bigliodromi," fantastic animals, and many other creations exhibited in shows in Italy and abroad.

Papetti describes his work as a way to "restore meaning to lost things," almost a form of poetry applied to objects. Indeed, more than Italy's finest toymaker, or even an extraordinary toy-fixer, Papetti is known as an artist, educator, and toymaker who for decades has recovered abandoned objects and discarded materials to transform them into new toys.

In 2026, a documentary dedicated to his life was even presented, entitled The Secret Life of Toys, produced by ZaLab Film. And meanwhile, with a touch of irony, which is never missing in his creations, Papetti has become rector of the University of Marbles of Ravenna, another project, as a visionary, with a cultural, playful and pedagogical profile.

The University of Marbles organizes:

lecture-show on the ancient game of marbles;
workshops for children and adults;
construction of “ball tracks”, that is, courses, mazes and machines for making marbles run;
activities that connect play, art, science and philosophy.

Papetti has also written many books, often on the subject of toys and recycling, among which we remember:

Storytellers of the reserves edited by Gianni Celati, Feltrinelli, 1992.
Creative toys, with Gianfranco Zavelloni, Macro Edizioni, 1995 (2nd edition for Editoriale Scienza, 2012).
People's toys, with Gianfranco Zavalloni, Macro Edizioni, 1997.
The second life of things, edited by Andrea Canevaro, Erickson, 2002.
Small gestures of ecology, with Gianfranco Zavalloni, Editoriale Scienza, 2002.
Tintinnabula, toy museum, with Stefano Tedioli, Artebambini, 2006.
The secret life of toys, Artebambini, 2012.
Science on the swing, with Mario Lodi, Editoriale Scienza, 2011.
The Secret Life of Toys, with Stefano Tedioli, Artebamabini, 2012.
Zughé Lavuré, with Elisa Mazzoli, Artebambini, 2010.
The snail was in the garden, with Stefano Tedioli, Fulmino, 2014.
The caravan of the peaceful, with Luciana Bertinato, Emanuela Bussolati, Carthusia, 2020.

Cover image source: Facebook/Roberto Papetti

Roberto Papetti, the master and poet of recycled toys

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