Simple and poor toys, able to offer happy and carefree hours to those who played with them in the open air, carruoccioli, strummoli and tirapreta were usually included in the tools of the young brat from Campania, from Naples to Salerno, from Cilento to Sannio, from Irpinia to Terra di Lavoro.
From the Latin word carroccium, or “little cart”, carruocciolo was built with two wooden boards and some broken-down wheels. It was a real little sledge to use in the streets, often going downhill.
Instead, who doesn’t know the saying “S'è aunita ‘a funicella corta e ‘o strummolo tiriteppeto?” meaning: a too short cord has joined and cannot provide enough momentum to cause the required torque motion to the strummolo. As a result, it starts moving inappropriately and the little spinning top tilts to the side and moves hopping, with its typical sound tirití-tirité (its Neapolitan onomatopoeia tiriteppeto).
Strummolo, was nothing other than a hand-crafted spinning top: pulling a funicella, a twine placed on the end, it started spinning while balancing on a metal tip. It is a very plain toy, able to make many children come together to face contests for the longest spins. Last, the traditional sling acquired the more evocative name of tirapreta, “launch the stone”, in Neapolitan.
Nowadays, it is fairly common to find local artisans who process small wooden objects and forge little strummoli or tiraprete, traditionally made and screen-printed, whose tradition is still alive especially in the inner areas of Campania, whereas the tradition of carruocciolo appears to have died out.