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Old Italian fairy tales: Pentamerone

Last Modified: November 28, 2022

Se vi chiedessi i nomi di alcuni famosi scrittori europei di fiabe, probabilmente vi verrebbero in mente i fratelli Grimm o Charles Perrault. Ma se vi dicessi che molte delle fiabe raccontate da questi scrittori erano state precedentemente scritte in italiano, anzi in napoletano, da un altro autore?

If I asked you for the names of some famous European fairy tales’ writers, you would probably come up with the brothers Grimm, or Charles Perrault. But what if I told you that many of the tales told by these writers, had previously been written in Italian, well in Neapolitan, by another author?

L’autore italiano di cui parlo è Giambattista Basile, autore di un libro che raccoglie alcune vecchie fiabe italiane: il Pentamerone.

The Italian author I’m talking about is Giambattista Basile, the author of a book full of some old Italian fairy tales: il Pentamerone.

Giambattista Basile

Basile è nato nel 1566 a Giuliano. E’ stato cortigiano di vari principi italiani e nel frattempo ha iniziato a scrivere. Ha iniziato la sua carriera di scrittore come poeta e poi ha scritto Il Pentamerone, conosciuto anche come Lo cunto de li cunti in napoletano, Il racconto dei racconti in italiano standard e Tale of Tales in inglese.

Basile was born in 1566 in Giuliano. He was a courtier to various Italian princes, and meanwhile, he started to write. He started his writing career as a poet and then wrote Il Pentamerone, also known as Lo cunto de li cunti in Neapolitan, Il racconto dei racconti in standard Italian and Tale of Tales in English.

Il Pentamerone è stato pubblicato dalla sorella di Giambattista Basile dopo la sua morte. Il libro originale è scritto in napoletano e comprende 50 fiabe ambientate in Basilicata e Campania.

Pentamerone was published by Giambattista Basile’s sister after Giambattista died. The book is originally written in Neapolitan and included 50 fairy tales set in Basilicata and Campania.



Le versioni delle fiabe incluse nel Pentamerone sono spesso le più antiche conosciute al mondo. Per esempio, vi troverete le prime versioni europee di fiabe come Raperonzolo o Cenerentola. Però, anche se si chiamano fiabe, non sono certo storie della buonanotte che racconteremmo ai nostri figli. Mi limiterò a dire che in Cenerentola, ad esempio, la protagonista uccide la matrigna.

Many of the fairy tales included in Pentamerone are the oldest known variants in existence. For example, you’ll find the earliest European versions of tales such as Rapunzel or Cinderella. However, although they’re called fairy tales, they’re definitely not bedtime stories we would tell our children. I’ll just say that in Cinderella, for example, the main character kills her stepmother.

Tutti i racconti del libro sono collegati a una cornice narrativa, che funziona come una storia nella storia. La cornice narrativa parla di una principessa maledetta di nome Zoza. Non voglio fare spoiler, quindi dirò solo che la principessa dovrà affrontare diverse situazioni prima di ottenere il suo lieto fine.

All the tales in the book are connected to a frame story, which works as a story in the story. The frame story is about a cursed princess named Zoza. I don’t want to spoiler anything so, let’s just say that she’s going to experience different situations before getting her happy ending.

Se volete leggere il libro, ci sono diverse edizioni che potete prendere.

If you want to read the book there are different editions that you can get.

È possibile ottenere l’edizione bilingue in napoletano e italiano, Lo cunto de li cunti.

You can get the bilingual edition in Neapolitan and Italian, Lo cunto de li cunti.

Se volete leggerlo in inglese, potete trovare l’edizione inglese di Penguin, The Tale of Tales, o quello della Wayne State University Press Giambattista Basile’s The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones.

If you want to read it in English, you can get the English edition by Penguin, The Tale of Tales, or the one by Wayne State University Press Giambattista Basile’s The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones.

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Credits

Original image by jplenio

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