Enrico Novelli (Yambo)
born Pisa, Italy, June 5, 1876; died Florence, Italy, December 29, 1943

Enrico was the son of Ermete Novelli, the Italian actor and playwright who played King Lear in a silent 1910 movie version of the play. Enrico adopted the psuedonym Yambo, and as a writer and illustrator, he is perhaps most widely known for Ciuffettino, the children’s character he created. Yambo wrote two Ciuffettino books and several comic strips, and RAI based a cartoon TV series on the character.

He died of a heart attack during an air raid, and his epigraph reads:

QUI GIULIO ENRICO NOVELLI
CHE AL SUO TEMPO FU COGNITO
SOTTO LO PSEUDONIMO DI YAMBO
AMICO DEI RAGAZZI E DELLA GENTE BUONA
DORME L’ULTIMO SONNO

Yambo Gallery

Guerra in Familia

Ciuffettino

Ciuffettino Comic

Tina
Il taglio della Parisina
Books
  • Capitan Fanfara - around the world in automobile (1896; Rome, House And Scotti, 1904; Milan, Vallardi, 1926; 1948; Turin, Einaudi, 1973)
  • Two years in velocipede - extraordinary adventures of two cyclists around the world (1899; Milan, Vallardi, 1929)
  • The heroes of Gladiator (1900)
  • Atlantis (1902; Florence, Vallecchi, 1932; 1944)
  • The siblings of Red Hand (1902)
  • Ciuffettino (Rome, House And Calzone Villa, 1902; 1902; Rome, House And Scotti, 1908; Florence, Vallecchi, 1937; 1944)
  • Fior of lillà (1903)
  • Burchiello the friend of Ciuffettino (1904; Milan, Vallardi, 1928)
  • To the conquest of a throne [1] (1904)
  • The manuscript found in a bottle (Rome, House And Scotti, 1905)
  • Lucky person by force [1] (1905; then Rome, House And Scotti, 1914)
  • The treasure of Incas [2 of To the conquest of a throne] (Rome, House And Scotti, 1905)
  • The exploratory ones of infinite (1906)
  • The king of worlds [2 of Lucky person by force] (1906; Milan, Vallardi, 1931)
  • The theatre of burattini (the Rome, House And Scotti, 1906)
  • The adventures of Captain Bombax (Rome, House And Scotti, 1906)
  • The band of Carl Bousset (1907)
  • Scimmiottino green (1907)
  • The filibusters of Snail (1908)
  • Lunar colony (1908)
  • Mammouth (1909)
  • Ruggero red (1909)
  • The rivincita one of Lissa (Rome, House And Scotti, 1909)
  •  The ring of Pharaohs (1912)
  • The novel of soccer - [commedia] three pictures and a prologo (Florence, Baldoni, 1912)
  • Gomitolino (1913)
  • Ciuffettino to war (1916)
  • Flaming Gorizia (1917)
  • Mestolino (Florence, Vallecchi, 1923; 1928; 1935)
  • The turn of the world in 80 months (1925; Milan, Mondadori, 1929)
  • Travel to the center of invisibile universe (1925)
  • The archipelago of fantasy (1926)
  • All of all (1927; Milan, Vallardi, 1952)
  • The flame on white mark (1927)
  • The history of Tizzoncino (Florence, Vallecchi, 1927; 1944)
  • I want to be champion of… (1928)
  • Titì and Tutù - history of two monelli of eighth day (1929; Florence, Vallecchi, 1933)
  • Extraordinary travels (1930)
  • The devil in cupola (Milan, Mondadori, 1930)
  • Bells of Italy - voices echoes legends songs you play harmonies of lands native land (1931; Milan, Vallardi, 1933)
  • Ciuffettino Balilla (Florence, Vallecchi, 1931)
  • The book of the bombs - incredible adventures for earth, sea and air (Florence, Vallecchi, 1932)
  • Madonna Pisa (1935)
  • The shadow of Corradino (1936)
  • To the discovery of the South Pole, necklace “Learns also this” (Florence, Vallecchi, 1936)
  • The Hawk of the Val d’ Orcia (1938)
  • The checkers of Altacomba (1939; Florence, Salani, 1943)
  • Great Priccicò (1940)
  • Lupo the red necklace “Vallecchi for boys” (Milan, Vallecchi, 1942)
  • The flour mill stregatoo necklace “Vallecchi for boys” (Milan, Vallecchi, 1942)
  • The talisman of 10,000 misfortunes (Florence, Vallecchi, 1943)
  • Small infantile encyclopedia (1936 in then learns this -)
Comic strips
  • The men greens (in Topolino, Mondadori, from the n. 139 of 25 August 1935 to the n. 155 of 15 December 1935; first edition in white: “Yambo”, the amatoriali comic strips n. 2, Luigi F. Bona Publisher, Milan, July 1975)
  • Robottino, omino of steel (in the three porcellini, Mondadori, from the n. 30 of 17 October 1935 to the n. 48 of 20 February 1936; first edition in white: “Yambo”, op. cit., 1975)
  • The pioneers of the space (in Topolino, Mondadori, from the n. 209 of 25 December 1936 to the n. 220 of 11 March 1937; first edition in white: “Yambo”, op. cit., 1975)
  • Ciuffettino (in the Adventurous one)
  • Giulio Cesar (in Adventurous Small)
  • Ciuffettino in the island of the black hawks (in Topolino, Mondadori)
  • Ciuffettino in comet X (in Topolino, Mondadori)
  • The Odissea (60 tables, 19 completed from matita Yambo to and china, 41 only completed to matita; 1943, work remained incompiuta for the dead women of the author, unknown)

FURTHER READING

Mario Novelli. “Yambo from the Travaso to Topolino” in: Egidio Bregani and Camillo Moscati (edited by). “Yambo - Robottino, the men greens, the amatoriali pioneers of the space”, comic strips n. 2, Luigi F. Bona Publisher, Milan, July 1975.