Fiabe italiane raccolte dalla tradizione popolare durante gli ultimi cento anni e trascritte in lingua dai vari dialetti da Italo Calvino

by Italo Calvino (Editor)

«Le fiabe sono, prese tutte insieme, nella loro sempre ripetuta e sempre varia casistica di vicende umane, una spiegazione generale della vita, nata in tempi remoti e serbata nel lento ruminio delle coscienze contadine fino a noi; sono il catalogo dei destini che possono darsi a un uomo e a una donna, soprattutto per la parte di vita che appunto è il farsi d’un destino: la giovinezza, dalla nascita che sovente porta in sé un auspicio o una condanna, al distacco dalla casa, alle prove per diventare adulto e poi maturo, per confermarsi come essere umano. E in questo sommario disegno, tutto: la drastica divisione dei viventi in re e poveri, ma la loro parità sostanziale; la persecuzione dell’innocente e il suo riscatto come termini d’una dialettica interna ad ogni vita; l’amore incontrato prima di conoscerlo e poi subito sofferto come bene perduto; la comune sorte di soggiacere a incantesimi, cioè d’essere determinato da forze complesse e sconosciute, e lo sforzo per liberarsi e autodeterminarsi inteso come un dovere elementare, insieme a quello di liberare gli altri, anzi il non potersi liberare da soli, il liberarsi liberando; la fedeltà a un impegno e la purezza di cuore come virtù basilari che portano alla salvezza e al trionfo; la bellezza come segno di grazia, ma che può essere nascosta sotto spoglie d’umile bruttezza come un corpo di rana; e soprattutto la sostanza unitaria del tutto, uomini bestie piante cose, l’infinita possibilità di metamorfosi di ciò che esiste».

Dalla introduzione di Italo Calvino

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Italy, Fantasy, Italian Literature, Folklore, Fairy Tales

883 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."

Reviews

[Federico DN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clone wars.

A collection of short italian folktales by renowned Italo Calvino. 200 tales, merely a few pages each. One of those yellowed books found in the dusty family bookcase.

The structure of every tale is pretty much always the same, a merchant, a princess or a king has some sort of problem or something bad happening, a magic solution is found, bingo, hea for everyone. Multiply by a few hundreds of utterly bland tales, so similar you could almost brand them clones. After the thirtieth tale they all start to feel the same, add increasing boredom with each new one, until you find yourself craving to reach the end so the torture is finally over.

There's not much I can rescue from this book, except that it makes me very happy knowing that I’ll soon get rid of it.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1956] [944p] [Collection] [HIGHLY Not Recommendable]
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Guerra de clones.

Una colección de cuentos cortos de folclore por el renombrado Italo Calvino. 200 cuentos, meramente un par de páginas cada uno. Uno de esos libros amarillentos hallados en la polvorienta biblioteca familiar.

La estructura de cada cuento es básicamente siempre la misma, un mercader, una princesa o un rey tiene algún tipo de problema o algo malo sucediendo, una solución mágica aparece, bingo, todos felices para siempre. Multiplicar por un par de cientos de terriblemente sosos cuentos, tan similares que casi podrías llamarlos clones. Después del trigésimo cuento todos empiezan a parecer iguales, añadir creciente aburrimiento con cada uno nuevo, hasta que te encuentras a tí mismo anhelando llegar al final sólo para que la tortura finalmente termine.

No hay mucho que pueda rescatar de este lbro, excepto que me hace muy feliz saber que pronto me voy a deshacer de él.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1956] [944p] [Colección] [ALTAMENTE No Recomendable]
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[John Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italo Calvino has compiled a truly delightful collection of 200 traditional Italian folktales.

Calvino is the perfect choice to put these folktales into writing. His prose is vibrant, as always.

This volume was undoubtedly a labor of love for Calvino. These stories are playful and full of joy. You will find yourself smiling ear-to-ear while reading many of them.

With 200 folktales, Calvino covers a lot of ground. All different types of folktales are represented in this volume. There is something here for everyone.

Highly recommended.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was just taking a little stroll on a rainbow. I'll be right down.

One word review : Charming!

Italo Calvino sets out here to salvage the treasure trove of popular wisdom, his inspiration in the monumental works of the likes of Brothers Grimm, Perrault, Andersen or Afanasiev. The result is this collection of very Italian and very amusing folklore collected from dusty library shelves by previous ethnographers and polished up by Calvino. He adds his personal touch of wry humour and subversive mischief to make the lecture appealing to both children and adults. Alternatively, Calvino's style and the Italian cultural identity were born in his early immersion in the oral traditions of Italian storytelling

I'm not going to review each little tale separately : they are quite short and share a lot of common traits, or local colour, that make them encapsulate the true peasant spirit of the peninsula. What struck me as I was trying to identify these common traits are the numerous cases of explicit, gleeful violence – something that has been purged from the original Grimm or Perrault by the likes of Thomas Bowlder or Walt Disney.

... and with two well-placed blows, killed them ...
... all right, then tie me to the stake and burn me in the square. That was done, and soon after that the Prince married the beautiful young girl.

Murders, auto-da-fes, illicit affairs and others assorted cardinal sins keep cropping up alongside tales clearly inspired from the Catholic church teachings. Even more often the heroes are either outlaws (robbers, criminals, liars) or wily peasants running rings around the police or the lords.

Now don't tell anyone about this because if the police knew about it they'd send both of us to jail.

Calvino is clearly rooting for the underdog in his selection of folk tales. The happy endings, more often than not produce not marriage, children and 'happy-ever-after', but winning the lottery by nobodies beings smarter and faster on their feet than their betters.

Then he returned home and everything he did was successful, so that he soon became rich.

Some of the tales, especially the ones featuring the popular buffoon named Giufa, can be found in other cultures with very little variation. In Romania his name is "Pãcalã", in Turkey and other Oriental cultures "Nasstratin Hogea"

Work and Giufa didn't mix. After enjoying a late breakfast, he would stroll out into the street and loaf around.

Nasstratin quote : "Eat, my little clothes, eat! For they have really invited you, not me!"


In the end, this is a very good selection of Italian folklore that is raised to the level of high literature by the master's touch of Italo Calvino.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is an endless fascination to fairy and folk tales. As a child, I remember listening to them at my great-aunt’s knee: she was a great storyteller, and often embellished and modified tales, so that cruel and sad parts were left out. The same tales were restored to their original form when told by my mother, who was adamant that a child should not be shielded from cruelties and horror. Needless to say, I preferred my great-aunt.

Later on, I came to read and love the Classics Junior series of comics (sadly out of print now, alas) which introduced me to the Brothers Grimm (Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Beauty and the Beast et al), and I was hooked for life on the magic of fairy tales, and the world of make-believe and fantasy. My fascination only increased when I discovered that underneath the beauty there lay a morass of dark desires and fears, and these tales are only the tips of the icebergs of darkest human nature.

So when I was able to grab Italo Calvino’s famous compendium of Italian folktales at relatively reasonable price, I was ecstatic. And the famous novelist did not let me down: here is a collection, neatly compiled and docketted, of stories collected from all over Italy. Calvino provides informative footnotes to all tales, pointing out the similarities, sometimes giving detailed information on the teller (mostly old ladies) and pointing out the influence of Grimm and the later romantic legends. In many an instance, he has combined different versions of the same story (adding his own poetic embellishments) to create what he deems the best version.

It would be a Herculean task to analyse the stories in detail: rather, I would like to give general impressions.

◾These pagan tales have been Christianised to a certain extent. The devil makes frequent appearances, but usually behaves more like the inept ogre or giant of the traditional fairy tale than the arch-fiend. There is especially a Lame Devil who is almost lovable in his bumbling inefficiency.

◾Even though God himself does not make an appearance, there are a number of stories where angels and saints play an active part. There is a whole cycle of stories with Jesus and Peter playing the roles of the wise master and the foolish disciple.

◾Kings and queens are plentiful – they can be found in almost all neighbourhoods, living across the street from you. And when the poor servant-girl is rescued by a prince or king, the kingdom is specifically mentioned (i.e. “King of Portugal”, “Prince of Spain” etc.). I was surprised to find that the “King of India” makes his appearance in one story.

◾Some of these tales are romances, as pointed out by Calvino: for example, the tale of the Slave Mother, kidnapped by Turkish pirates. It (and the Christian references) indicate that the stories have come some way from their pagan origins.

A very satisfying read overall. Only a word of statutory caution: weighing in at seven hundred and fifty plus pages and two hundred stories, this is a ponderous tome, best taken in small doses. Reading at a stretch would tire one out and jade the palate due to a surfeit of magic and wizardry.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a tiny child, I read this an enormous number of times -- I remember bringing it in to my kindergarten class to show to my teacher (who, certainly, had doubts that I'd actually read it. Psh. (Yes. I am hugely pretentious.))

Regardless. I've read bits and pieces of it again and again over the years, and it remains one of the most delightful books I know. There is no reason for this not to be a favorite book for kids -- it's exciting, full of an enormous number (200!) of vivid stories perfect in size for a child's attention span (just a few pages each). There's also, though, no reason for this not to be a favorite book for adults. Each story is a perfect little gem, sometimes dark but never grim (or, for that matter, Grimm), sometimes wry and funny but never mean-spirited, and on and on and on.

I've started reading these to my days-old son, ostensibly for his benefit but really for my own. With 200 stories, I figure this should last us until he's 7 months plus, and then I intend to start over again. Seriously. I can't get enough of these.

[Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molti re e regine

In a way, I guess I was expecting more from the 200 tales in this collection, which Calvino collected from throughout Italia in the 1950s.

Many common threads braid these tales. A few seem duplicative of others, with minor variations; and some mirror prominent tales from Grimms collection. I will write down the threads I can recall while I'm on my vacation beginning tomorrow. Collectively, the list will undoubtedly prove very humorous.

I do know a lot more now about the common structure of these tales. I oughta use my gift for mimicry for entertainment purposes, forming fresh and funny folklore for fun. Good times.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! It's hard to even know where to begin reviewing this collection. I started reading it in 2015 for a group read, and finished about a third. I set it aside meaning to return to it, but never did. At the start of this year, I decided I would read 10 fairy tales from it between every print book I finished. And 7 months later, I'm finished! I enjoyed the process so much I'm going to start doing that with another fairy tale collection.

And I literally read it to pieces. Both the front and back cover have torn off, and now a chunk fell out. I'm going to have to upgrade to a hardback version!

These tales are magical. If you're someone only familiar with the Grimms, you have to read this. Or any fairytale fan needs to read this. Or if you think you're not a fairytale fan, then maybe you should read this.

So much fun and weirdness.

[Danilo Scardamaglio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno straordinario viaggio lungo le fatate contrade della tradizione fiabistica italiana. Calvino non si limita al mero ruolo di filologo,di asettico collezionatore, ma contamina, ibrida, talvolta addirittura inventa: ed accompagna il lettore, senza mai abbandonarlo, nell'incredibile mondo della sua titanica impresa (200 fiabe raccolte da nord a sud, scegliendo le versioni a sua detta migliori e scartando le fiabe troppo ripetitive, traducendo dal dialetto all'italiano e creando una sintetica bibliografia per ogni fiaba: tutto questo in quasi 3 anni di lavoro complessivo).
E straordinaria è l'introduzione di Calvino, che assurge a sintetico compendio di tutto ciò che sulle fiabe si è detto e studiato ai suoi tempi, analizzando ipotetiche origini e citando le più famose scuole di pensiero, gettando le basi per un più congruo studio della fiabistica italiana grazie alla preziosa ricercae sulla conservazione manoscritta delle nostre fiabe: così come straordinaria è l'introduzione all'opera di Lavagetto (curatore della mia edizione), con la sua analitica guida alla lettura e allo studio dell'officina poetica di Calvino.
Quanto alle fiabe, è vero, come ho letto in alcune recensioni, che possono risultare ripetitive (per quanto non condivido in alcun modo il giudizio di assoluta monotonia). La ripetizione risulta soprattutto nella struttura: vanno riconosciuti determinati tipi fiabistici che, o per intento narrativo o per diffusione geografica, tendono a differenziarsi nei dettagli o nell'intreccio. Tuttavia, merito di Calvino sta nell'essere riuscito a non abbondare di ripetitività nel tipo, anche grazie alla disposizione delle fiabe nel corpus. In misura minore, esiste (e sarebbe estremamente interessante leggere studi più adeguati in merito) una certa ripetitività anche in elementi secondari, così come la comparsa ossessiva del numero tre, che mi ha colpito maggiormente (solitamente abbiamo tre figli, tre oggetti magici, tre prove da affrontare), o ad esempio la comparsa di versi per dati personaggi: sono queste convenzioni la cui origine risalirebbe all'inizio dei tempi quasi, considerando la diffusione di temi ed elementi fiabistici nell'intera regione di diffusione culturale ariana, dunque a un'epoca precristiana e profondamente magica. Ciò che mi ha in effetti maggiormente affascinato nella lettura delle fiabe (e qui aiuta moltissimo Calvino nelle note) è stato il costante intersecarsi di elementi culturali fortemente eterogenei, e il loro amalgamarsi nell'unitario corpo della fiaba: da un già citato sostrato precristiano a un profondo sostrato mitologico (ricorre costantemente, ad esempio, seppure travestito il mito di Amore e Psiche), da un sostrato popolare ovviamente preponderante (fatto di saggezza e furbizia, detti e proverbi, e un'ingenua religiosità) ad un sorprendente sostrato letterario (non soltanto facilmente Basile, ma anche addirittura Boccaccio).
Quel che si perde un po' nell'opera di Calvino, come ammetteva lo stesso, è il colore: sia perché le fiabe non sono solo letteratura, ma anche teatro (gesti, cambi di voce, mimica sono fondamentali nel racconto), e soprattutto per la perdita (per quanto necessaria) del dialetto, e l'omologazione ad un tono e una lingua uniche per tutte le fiabe.

[Alastair Fontana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother gave me this book when I was seven years old. She got it from a salesman who was smart enough to convince her that the book was perfect for a seven years old, even though it was a book of more than a thousand pages, and an expensive one, with an heavy binding that made it difficult for a little boy to handle. Well, this was probably the best gift I ever had. I read the book countless times, totally fascinated by the weirdness of the characters and by the gruesomeness of the stories, elements that hugely enhanced the sweet flavour of the unavoidable happy endings. German and Nordic folktales in comparison were for little kid, I thought back then.

It was because of this book that I later fell in love with the magnificent work of Italo Calvino. It started my obsession with the structuralist analysis of fairy tales of Vladimir Propp as well, and a passion and respect for folktales still alive after so many years.

[Nercs · Rating 2 out of 5]

کل کتاب پر بود از اِلِما‌ن‌های تکراری: سه تا برادر که میخوان برن دنبال سرنوشتشون‌، نامادری بدجنس و جادوگر پیر، شاهزاده‌ی خوش بر و رویی که طلسم شده، دختر فقیر و خوشگلی که پسر پادشاه توی یه نگاه عاشقش میشه، عروسی، عروسی، عروسی. از بین ۱۰۰ تا داستان، کمتر افسانه‌ای بود که واقعا بشه بهش گفت افسانه.
این دو تا ستاره هم یکیش برای تلاش نویسنده برای جمع‌آوری این داستان‌ها و یکیشم برای ترجمه‌ی عالی کتاب.

[Scribble Orca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful reference material. To be admired for the approach and scholarship. Otherwise bland.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calvino wanted to be Italy's Brothers Grimm. Not in the sense of collecting the tales, which folklorists had been doing, but creating a popular collection. This is the result, down to the 200 tales. He notes that he also, like the Grimms, spruced up the tales. Unlike them, he put in end notes about what tales he combined, and what little details he added. (He went by the language and not by the country's borders.)

It's a wide variety, including some religious legends and animal fables and tales about fools, but it's mostly fairy tales. A few are retellings of Greek myths, like Perseus, or the Cyclopes, after they are run through the folkloric lathe to pare them down to simplicity. A few others are obviously derived from the chivalric romance, also pared down.

A familiarity with many tales will often recognize them and what fillips Italy added -- which sometimes Calvino noted as well. "A Man Wreathed With Seaweed" is a common European tale, except that elsewhere the hero has to be lowered through a well or other hole in the ground "The Ship With Three Decks" combines an opening like "The Lord of Lorn" with a tale type like "The Firebird, the Princess Vasilisa, and the Horse of Power." "Bella Venezia" gives a Snow White tale with a innkeeper not a queen, and bandits instead of dwarves -- and guess how the bandits get into their cave. A girl must be silent for seven years to save her brothers not from being birds, but from Hell -- and instead of her husband the king only be persuaded to execute her at the very end of that time, she has to flee and ends up with bandits. "Misfortune" is one I've only run across in Mediterranean tales -- a heroine whose Fortune is bad. We have children born as apples and rosemary plants, crabs and snakes. In one, two royal children reclaim their kingdom from their wicked uncle before the brother foolishly marries a beggar woman, whose new position goes to her head and makes her hate her sister-in-law. A Cinderella tale where first the heroine sneaked into the prince's castle to do mischief.

And a lot more.

One annoyance -- the translator also, sometimes, translated the names. John, Jack, William, Andrew. . . though not consistent

[Tittirossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tre volumi meravigliosi (alcune fiabe sono state lette e rilette e rilette e rilette all'infinito prima della nanna serale, ricordo in particolare 7 scope e 7 spade)

[Timár_Krisztina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nagyon jó ízléssel válogatott és összerakott mesék. Felnőttek számára mind tökéletes, gyerekek kamaszkoron alul nem hiszem, hogy tudnának velük mit kezdeni. Például az utolsó mese sztoikus főszereplőjével, aki megtehetné, hogy örökké él, de szándékosan megadja magát a halálnak. Vagy azokkal a mesékkel, amelyekben a főszereplő veszít, és még nevetségessé is válik. Számomra nagy élményt jelentett, hogy mindegyik mese tudott valami újat mutatni: váratlan cselekményfordulatot, szokatlan szereplőt, furcsa és ügyes motívumot. Újraolvasós.

Részletes értékelés itt:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[Laura Vo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most traditional stories were past down from generation to generation in an oral tradition which made for well paced and entertaining stories. Sadly they are often retold in the hands of someone with a pace that is comparable to a three legged horse in a race, and sadly not as entertaining. (I know some of you are thinking I'm awful for that right now and are taking a moment to think the worst of me.) Thankfully, Italo Calvino lent his hand to the collecting and retelling of Italian folktales and so all the stories in this book have his excellent gift for entertaining telling. This helps at times where the stories run the risk of sounding otherwise repetitive, which happens often in folktales. Most often collections of folk tales are either slim volumes of a few stories that have been continuously recycled or you have to buy several books in a series to obtain the complete collection by a certain editor. This book weighs in at 800 pages and so you can sit rooted in the same spot for days while reading all of the stories. I don't actually recommend doing that. Here is how I propose you read stories from the book: Prepare a pot of whatever warm beverage tickles your fancy, (this can be anything from mulled cider to tea to coffee), find the most comfortable place in the house, (if you are pet owner this will be the place that your cat or dog is likely already occupying in this case you must displace them), make sure that the only noise that may disrupt you is from the local wildlife outside your window, if you have other people to read with or to gather them as well only make sure they don't take your comfy spot, open the book, read the introduction, (well being realistic you will nobly try and read it for two sentences, then you will skim for a couple of paragraphs and then you will give up), and begin with the first story. It's okay to take the occasional break from reading the tales however I recommend that you do not give it up for more than a few minutes at a time! If you have your doubts about how good this collection might be I'll have you know that this book is so well liked that I have had it stolen from me, twice. So please go out and invest the money into your own copy of the book and leave mine to my bookshelf!

[Peter Tillman]

Jo Walton's short take from Dec, 2021:
"Italian Folktales, Italo Calvino (1956)
This is a collection of folk and fairy tales collected by Calvino and others from all over Italy and retold by Calvino. They all have provenance, and it’s fascinating to see the varieties of stories popular in different places. It’s a huge volume; I’ve been reading this for months, and enjoying the process. These stories are different from Grimm and Perrault but also similar to them… There’s nothing here as strange as the Russian or Japanese folktale collections I’ve read, but it’s interesting seeing how much variation there is in this kind of story. There’s a surprising amount of fratricide here, for instance, and more boats than I’d expect."
https://www.tor.com/2022/01/07/jo-wal...

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le fiabe sono il catalogo dei destini che possono darsi a un uomo e una donna

[Jill]

Well, Neil Gaiman gave it five stars...

and Wikipedia had this intriguing insight:

"Over a seven-year period, Calvino wrote three realist novels, The White Schooner (1947–1949), Youth in Turin (1950–1951), and The Queen's Necklace (1952–54), but all were deemed defective.[28] During the eighteen months it took to complete I giovani del Po (Youth in Turin), he made an important self-discovery: "I began doing what came most naturally to me – that is, following the memory of the things I had loved best since boyhood. Instead of making myself write the book I ought to write, the novel that was expected of me, I conjured up the book I myself would have liked to read, the sort by an unknown writer, from another age and another country, discovered in an attic."[29] The result was Il visconte dimezzato (1952; The Cloven Viscount) composed in 30 days between July and September 1951. The protagonist, a seventeenth century viscount sundered in two by a cannonball, incarnated Calvino's growing political doubts and the divisive turbulence of the Cold War.[30] Skillfully interweaving elements of the fable and the fantasy genres, the allegorical novel launched him as a modern "fabulist".[31] In 1954, Giulio Einaudi commissioned his Fiabe Italiane (1956; Italian Folktales) on the basis of the question, "Is there an Italian equivalent of the Brothers Grimm?"[32] For two years, Calvino collated tales found in 19th century collections across Italy then translated 200 of the finest from various dialects into Italian. Key works he read at this time were Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale and Historical Roots of Russian Fairy Tales, stimulating his own ideas on the origin, shape and function of the story.[33]"

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish my parents had read this aloud to me when I was little- perhaps one of the best collections of fairy tales I've ever read. Calvino finds a very strong narrative voice while still managing to balance his own typical style and the speaking style of those who told him the stories in the first place.

My favorite is a similar story to little red riding hood except with an ogre...
"Grandmother, what a big neck you have..."
"I've always worn such heavy jeweled necklaces my dear."
"Grandmother, what hairy hips you have..."
"I always wore my corset a bit too tight my dear."

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many of these stories followed the same pattern: poor character is having a bad time > something semi-magical happens > character gains wealth or nobility.

For a writer with communist sympathies and an anarchist father, Calvino sure seems to (re-)tell a lot of stories that glorify kings, marriage, and wealth.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Grandmother, from Italy, would tell my brother and I Giufa stories every night. We loved them. I have become the teller of Giufa stories. I was convinced that my Grandmother had made all these stories up about this poor farmboy, and his mother.

When my eldest son was in 1st Grade, he asked me one night after a Giufa story, "Is Giufa real, Dad."
Wanting my son to believe these stories to get the full impact, I replied, "Of course."
Then my son said, "Then tomorrow when we go to the library we can get Giufa books!"
"Yes," I squirmed, hoping he would forget.
When I picked him up from school, he excitedly said, "Let's go get Giufa books!"
After looking for a long time for these books, I told my son, "He is so popular, they are all checked out."
"Let's ask the librarian."
My lie was up.
She looked at my son and said, I don't think we have a book on Giufa, but we do have a book on ITALIAN FOLKTALES.
She got the book, the heavens opened, trumpets sounded, and divine light focused on the book. Inside were eight Giufa stories. I was in shock, as my Grandmother did not make them up. He was a real literary character.

Calvino was a genius. He collected stories from Italy in places where reading and writing were not developed. This book contains so many great stories, and have been read to my kids when they were young.

I am grateful to the storytellers from the beginning to Calvino.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICORDI D'INFANZIA

Le fiabe raccolte da Calvino sono "diverse", nonostante gli stereotipi. Sarà stato perché mia madre era solita leggermele quando ero piccola (Zio Lupo era una presenza fissa nei miei incubi!), ma sono state capaci tuttora di affascinarmi e trasportarmi in mondi magici in cui tutto è possibile.

"La bambina andò alla casa di Zio Lupo. Bussò: Bum, bum.
- Chi è?
- Sono io!
- Tanti anni, tanti mesi che nessuno batte più a questa porta! Cosa vuoi?
- Mi manda la mamma, a chiedervi se ci prestate la padella per fare le frittelle.
- Aspetta che mi metto la camicia.
Bum, bum.
- Aspetta che mi metto i mutandoni.
Bum, bum.
- Aspetta che mi metto i pantaloni.
Bum, bum.
- Aspetta che mi metto la gabbana."

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Italian fairy tales than you can shake a stick at.

Fairy tales told in clear, straightforward language. Ones that you've heard (and probably associate with the Brothers Grimm), ones that you haven't heard, and ones where you're like, "Wait...that's not quite the way it's supposed to go." Reading this collection, it's suddenly no surprise why folklorists love to classify tales like this according to theme. Being able to track tales across countries and centuries would be a hoot.

If you've read Italo Calvino before, this isn't like most of his work, but more like the Brothers Grimm.

Recommended for those who like fairy tales.

[Adam3million · Rating 2 out of 5]

Keep forgetting that folktales are for stupid babies and accidentally reading like 800 pages of them. This is the last time

[Chicco Padovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finalmente l’ho concluso! Non ci contavo più. Fiabe italiane è un’opera colossale. Duecento fiabe scritte o trascritte da Calvino che attingono alla tradizione del nostro paese. Le fonti sono le più disparate, dai racconti orali ad autori come Basile, Straparola, Pitrè, giusto per citare i più noti. Queste fiabe mi hanno accompagnato per quasi un anno tra un romanzo e l’altro. Ne emerge un universo immaginario coloratissimo e imprevedibile. La scrittura è volutamente essenziale e proprio per questo accende la fantasia del lettore. I temi sono ricorrenti: travestimenti, scarpine perdute, giovani che partono in cerca di fortuna, animali parlanti, gentili fate madrine, mostri paurosi. Ogni fiaba, nondimeno, è una piccola perla. Posso dire onestamente che sono davvero pochissime le storie che non mi sono piaciute. Non riuscirò mai a ricordarle tutte, ma fra le mie preferite Maria di legno, La barba del conte, Giricoccola, Il lupo e le tre ragazze, La figlia del sole, Fantaghirò persona bella e Il re nel paniere. Al termine del libro, in una lunga serie di note, Calvino indica con dovizia di particolari le proprie fonti e i suoi interventi sui testi originali. Un lavoro prezioso, senza il quale la maggior parte di questi racconti sarebbe andata perduta e da cui partire alla ricerca delle fonti.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

200 folktales ... I feel like I have completed a major reading project.

Reading folktales/fairytales, it's fun to see some of the similarities in European stories and start to pick up not only national but regional idiosyncrasies. This extensive collection of Italian tales not only has similarities to some very familiar stories but some also have threads of Arabic tales and Roman myths.
This is my first experience of Italian folktales outside of Roman mythology, so one of the things I don't really understand is the fascination with the Kings and Queens of Spain or Portugal -- they were mentioned in a great number of stories -- but this connection was never really explained.
I think my favorites were the St. Peter stories, in which he is the raucous petty Everyman, which are very humorous.

My only suggestion for this kind of anthology is that the organization of the stories could have been better -- by region or group similar stories together with their regional variations. There is a section at the end of Author's notes in which Calvino explains where he found each story or added some additional information. For me, these would have been more helpful to be placed by each tale instead of a section at the end of the book.


"And tbere they lived a life happy and long,
But nothing did they ever give me for my song."

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Best read in tiny chunks; most of the individual stories are a lot of fun (albeit somewhat disorienting from our post-post-modern perspective on plot and characterization. Also, Why is it the third brother and the youngest daughter that’s always successful? Why are so many parents ready to sacrifice their kids (but not vice versa)? Why are so many husbands not able to recognize their wives (and vice versa)? Why is there a king on every street corner?). Read in larger chunks they can all bleed together and the trope and theme similarities that seem charming with separation grow boring. Very worthwhile if all you have read are Mother Goose or The Grimm brothers.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a treasure this collection is! The perfect bedtime read: all the tales are quite short, 2-3 pgs, yet seem to encompass entire worlds and eras.

If you want to understand how Calvino can say so much so wonderfully in such a short space, pick up his posthumous essay collection, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, and read the essay "Quickness." A delightful meditation on the art of storytelling.

[Nof*cking Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

●L'ho apenna finito. Affacinante. La lingua de Calvino, la sua scrittura....Sfolgorante! Sto, ancora, hypnotizata
●Έχω την εντύπωση πως κάποιος θα έπρεπε να με χειροκροτήσει. 1300+ σελίδες. Παρά την εκθαμβωτική γλώσσα του Καλβίνο (και παρά το ότι το κρατάω ακόμα στα χέρια μου μαγεμένη) νοιώθω ότι θα κάνω χρόνια να ξανα-αναλάβω τέτοιο τεράστιο task!!!!!

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

meu pai me contava essas histórias quando eu era criança. amor