Member of the PCI (Italian Communist Party) from 1944 to his death.
He received "The biennial award" by the' International Board on Books for Young People' which is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books.
On 23 October 2020 Google celebrated his 100th birthday with a Google Doodle.
He is considered as Italy's most important 20th-century children's author and his books have been translated into many languages, though few have been published in English.
In 1939, for a short time, Rodari attended the Catholic University of Milan.