Leo & Mao

Leo, named after the XV century painter, engineer and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, is a lively and cheerful two-year old boy. He lives in Rome with his two parents, and is one of the main characters of this Blog.

Mao is Leo’s teddy bear. To the eyes of everyone, Mao is just a stuffed animal, but for Leo it’s an anthropomorphic polar bear, much taller and bigger than him, with his own character and personality. Mao is also Leo’s best friend, his adventure companion, the only person to whom Leo tells his secrets and his dreams…

It is not clear whether Mao is named after Mao Tze Tung, the revolutionary and founding father of the People’s Republic of China, or as an assonance to ‘meow’, the cat’s call…