Melevision: the magical biodiversity of Fantabosco

We have all at least once found ourselves answering the fateful question: "when you were a child, did you watch Melevision?" Those who answered no were, more often than not, lying. Let's go back in time to 1999 when, for most children, the afternoon meant only one thing (besides homework): snack and Melevision. The cult children's TV programme, which aired for about fifteen years on Rai, represented for today's Millennials a veritable container in which characters from fairy tales and fables found themselves experiencing joys and sorrows and carrying out the most diverse missions. The absolute protagonist was, until 2004, the much-loved Tonio Cartonio (played by Danilo Bertazzi), the first Folletto bibitiere of the Fantabosco, known for his timeless "Accipigna!". His heir was Milo Cotogno, the Fantabosco Doll sent by the Emperor of all Fairy Tales.

Photo Credits: Melevision Wiki

Melevision has accompanied the afternoons of an entire generation of children in City Down Below (as the world of the programme's child viewers was called) for several years, shaping itself as an educational television programme that, for example, taught children what the Single Currency is. Until 2001, the inhabitants of Fantabosco bought their favourite beverages in Lilleri (the fairy tale version of Lire), but with the changeover to the Euro, Fantabosco also started using a new currency: the Eurolillero. With the language of fairy tales, Melevision showed that children can be talked to about any subject, even the most challenging and profound. Not only Tonio Cartonio and Milo Cotogno contributed to this, but also the other fairy tale characters such as Fairy Gaia, Witch Varana, Genie Abù Zazà, Wolf Lucio, Nanny Bea, Princess Odessa and Ogre Manno. All of this, within the Fantabosco, the forest of laughing fantasies in which Melevision is set.

The Fantabosco is the universe of Melevisione, not far from Città Laggiù. It lies at the foot of Big Mountain, next to Near Woods, in a vast clearing made up of a small lake, houses, dens, streams, caves and more. Here, Tonio Cartonio and Milo Cotogno would welcome their friends and prepare delicious drinks for them, including Tiramisuper, Scivolizia, Blumele and Moraviglia. An agglomeration of fantasy in which flora and fauna could not be missing: even in the Fantabosco there were animal and plant species, to give space to a biodiversity that we can define as "magical".

Photo Credits: Melevision Wiki

The vegetable world of the Fantabosco is very rich and hides a number of magical secrets. Starting with the Apple Tree: in a secret clearing in the Fantasy Forest grows an Apple Tree, a 'fairy tree' wanted by Fairy Gaia, "one tree for all the apples in the world, even the mythical ones, even the magical ones...". Not to mention the Pilastrium Tree, one of the seven trees scattered all over the world that hold up the tent of heaven. In the episode 'Altritipiditappi', Linfa also names three cork oaks, giving them their own names: Auntie Ghiandimille, Auntie Passeraia and Auntie Frondiventa. Finally, the thousand-year-old olive tree known as the "Grandfather Olive Tree", which produces the Fantabosque oil famous throughout the Fairy Tale Kingdoms, and the Tree of Kings, planted in the mists of time, which protects all the kings of the Fantabosque and their descendants, who in turn care for it and watch over it, a bit like the grower 3Bee within the Oasis.

The fauna of the Fantabosco is also rich and varied. From the rainbow bird, an extremely rare fairy tale bird species, to the jumping animals, including the red flea, the jumping hare and the dwarf kangaroo of the Overseas Lands (capable of jumping up to twenty times its height), the magical biodiversity animal that populates the Phantom Forest is a true metaphor for the biological diversity of our Planet and the importance of protecting it. An emblematic example is that of the Blue Liocorns, sweet and defenceless creatures, but above all invisible to all but newborns: the Woods Fairies have made them invisible to protect them from evil-doers and, for the same reason, the Rock Nymphs have access to the only path leading to the secret clearing where they live. Or the Gryphons: magical creatures that are half eagle and half lion, laying a single egg every five years. A true species classified as rare by the IUCN "IUCN Red Lists of the Fantasy Forest".

But the animal biodiversity of the Fantabosco is also made up of magical pollinators, such as the Sting Bees. Anyone who is stung by one of these bees becomes quarrelsome and touchy, transmitting the contagion to everyone he or she comes into contact with. Or again, the Flies Muschitte from Orc Country, who in the episode "Beware of the spider" invade the Fantasy Forest. Finally, the Fairy Queen Butterflies looked after by Gnome Ronfo. These butterflies are migratory, just like our monarch butterflies, and they must take flight at sunset, at the moment when the sun touches the treetops of Fittaforesta, the territory north of the Fantabosco from which Lupo Fosco and Lupo Lucio come. If this does not happen, these butterflies lose their orientation and die.

Photo Credits: Melevision Wiki

The Fantabosco of the Melevision is the emblem of an enchanted kingdom in which the biodiversity is the star. The cult children's TV programme was not only entertainment, but also served, as we have already seen, a crucial educational function. Through the adventures of fantastic creatures, including the much-loved host Tonio Cartonio - aka Danilo Bertazzi - the programme played its part in raising young viewers' awareness of the importance of biological diversity and the need to protect it. With its innovative approach, combining fairy-tale elements with more topical themes such as sustainability and ecology, Melevision demonstrates how children's programmes can play a crucial role in educating environmental responsibility, inspiring them not only to respect nature, but also to actively participate in its protection and preservation.

Photo Credits: Melevision Wiki