As you may be aware, 2013 is the year of Italian Culture. CappuccinoApps [2] has decided to celebrate by releasing its first application on the AppStore, “Nino and the 3 magic gifts [3]”, a homage to Italian cultural tradition and folklore. The original story was passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. It is now the first time that it has been “translated” into a digital storybook with original animations and interactive features, in a valuable effort to bring Italian cultural roots “back to life” in these chaotic modern times.

The main character of the story is Nino, a little Italian boy who runs away from home after being told off by his mother. Collecting all his things in a large napkin, he sets off on his journey, in his little dungarees and with his pesky, smiley, freckled face.  On his travels he meets a very wise ogre who, with the help of three magic gifts – a wooden spoon, a cloth and a donkey – teaches Nino to become a good boy. Nino will finally return home to his mother, but not before having lived a number of colourful and fun adventures.
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Released on the AppStore in early December under the "Education" and "Books" categories, the end goal for this application is to entertain and amuse children of all ages and nationalities, while introducing them to the Italian language and culture. It’s available in 2 languages – English and Italian – and enriched with a number of interactive features that will allow kids to enhance their vocabulary through the graphic visualization of keywords. It also builds on their phonetic skills with the story read by a mother tongue professional actor. Users will also be able to catch up where they left off - restarting the tale at their convenience using the "bookmark" function, which allows them to absorb and digest the best moments of the story over time.
 

"Ours is almost an artisanal work. We have curated every single detail, from the structure of the story, to the soundtracks, and the agile and intuitive user experience which is specifically tailored to our young audience”, explained Omar Ferreri, founder at CappuccinoApps. "Our passionate team has worked on the animations from the initial pencil sketches, that were first coloured and then fully animated. We have used the most advanced software, transforming our ideas into the perfect combination of tradition, innovation and creativity”.
 

"Nino and the 3 magic gifts" is only the first of a number of applications that CappuccinoApps is planning to publish on the AppStore. "We are already working on the second tale: the main character will be Nino again, but this time we will see him encounter a very powerful wizard. We are planning to release it in April 2014, and will close the trilogy within the year.”
 

“We are planning to continue along these lines in the future: our goal is to collect traditional folk stories from all over the world and make them digital, so that they’re universally accessible”, concluded Omar Ferreri.
 

"Nino and the 3 magic gifts [3]" is available for iPhone, iPad and iPad mini on the AppStore.