''Italian Folktales'' (''Fiabe italiane'') is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosm ...

. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by

Vladimir Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible structural units. Biography Vladimir Propp was ...

's '' Morphology of the Folktale''; his intention was to emulate the Straparola in producing a popular collection of Italian fairy tales for the general reader. He did not compile tales from listeners, but made extensive use of the existing work of folklorists; he noted the source of each individual tale, but warned that was merely the version he used. He included extensive notes on his alterations to make the tales more readable and the logic of his selections, such as renaming the heroine of '' The Little Girl Sold with the Pears'' Perina rather than Margheritina to connect to the pears, and selecting ''

Bella Venezia "Bella Venezia" is an Italian fairy tale collected by Italo Calvino in his '' Italian Folktales''. Calvino selected this variant, where the heroine meets robbers, rather than others that contain dwarfs, because he believed the dwarfs were probably ...

'' as the Italian variant of ''

Snow White "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' because it featured robbers, rather than the variants containing dwarfs, which he suspected were imported from Germany. It was first translated into English in 1962; a further translation is by Sylvia Mulcahy ( Dent, 1975) and constituted the first comprehensive collection of Italian folktales.

List of tales

#Dauntless Little John (Giovannin senza paura; Fearless Giovannino 'Johnny'' #The Man Wreathed in Seaweed ( Riviera di Ponente) (L'uomo verde d'alghe; The man's green algae) #The Ship with Three Decks ( Riviera di Ponente (Il bastimento a tre piani) # The Man Who Came Out Only at Night ( Riviera di Ponente) (L'uomo che usciva solo di notte) # And Seven! ( Riviera di Ponente) (E Sette!) #Body-without-Soul ( Riviera di Ponente) (Corpo-senza-anima) #Money Can Do Everything (

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

) (Il denaro fa tutto) #The Little Shepherd ( Genoese hinterland) (Il pastore che non cresceva mai) # Silver Nose ( Langhe) (Naso d'argento) #The Count's Beard ( Bra) # The Little Girl Sold with the Pears (

Montferrat Montferrat ( , ; ; , ; ) is a historical region of Piedmont, in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, Alessandria and Province of Asti, Asti. Montferrat ...

) # The Snake (

) #The Three Castles (

) # The Prince Who Married a Frog (

) #The Parrot (

) (Il pappagallo) #The Twelve Oxen (

) (I dodici buoi) #Crack and Crook (

) # The Canary Prince (

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

) # King Crin ( Colline del Po) #Those Stubborn Souls, the Biellese (

Province of Biella The province of Biella (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia ëd Biela'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. Culture Biella is home to th ...

) #The Pot of Marjoram (

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

) #The Billiards Player (

) #Animal Speech (

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

) #The Three Cottages (

) #The Peasant Astrologer (

) #The Wolf and the Three Girls (

Lake Garda Lake Garda (, , or , ; ; ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into the edge of the Eastern Alps, Italian Alp ...

) #The Land Where One Never Dies (

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

) #The Devotee of St. Joseph (

) # The Three Crones (

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

) #The Crab Prince (

) #Silent for Seven Years (

) #The Dead Man's Palace (

) #Pome and Peel (

) #The Cloven Youth (

) #Invisible Grandfather (

) #The King of Denmark's Son (

) #Petie Pete Versus Witch Bea-Witch (

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

) #Quack, Quack! Stick to My Back! (

) #The Happy Man's Shirt (

) #One Night in Paradise (

) #Jesus and St. Peter in Friuli (

) #The Magic Ring (

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

) #The Dead Man's Arm (

) #The Science of Laziness (

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

) # Fair Brow (

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

) #The Stolen Crown (

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

) #The King's Daughter Who Could Never Get Enough Figs (Rome) #The Three Dogs (

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

) #Uncle Wolf (

) #Giricoccola (

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

) #Tabagnino the Hunchback (

) #The King of the Animals (

) # The Devil's Breeches (

) # Dear as Salt (

) #The Queen of the Three Mountains of Gold (

) #Lose Your Temper, and You Lose Your Bet (

) #The Feathered Ogre ( Garfagnana estense) #The Dragon with Seven Heads ( Montale) #Bellinda and the Monster ( Montale) #The Shepherd at Court ( Montale) #The Sleeping Queen ( Montale) #The Son of the Merchant from Milan ( Montale) #Monkey Palace ( Montale) #Rosina in the Oven ( Montale) #The Salamanna Grapes ( Montale) #The Enchanted Palace ( Montale) #Buffalo Head ( Montale) #The King of Portugal's Son ( Montale) #Fanta-Ghiro the Beautiful ( Montale) #The Old Woman's Hide ( Montale) #Olive ( Montale) #Catherine, Sly Country Lass ( Montale) #The Traveler from Turin ( Montale) # The Daughter of the Sun (

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

) (La figlia del Sole) # The Dragon and the Enchanted Filly (

) (Il Drago e la cavallina fatata) #The Florentine (

) (Il Fiorentino) #Ill-Fated Royalty (

) (I Reali sfortunati) #The Golden Ball (

) () #Fioravante and Beautiful Isolina (

) (Fioravante e la bella Isolina) #Fearless Simpleton (

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

) (Lo sciocco senza paura) #The Milkmaid Queen (Livorno) (La lattaia regina) #The Story of Campriano (

Province of Lucca The province of Lucca () is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca. It has an area of and a population of about 390,000. The province contains 33 ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). Geography Situated in northwester ...

) (La storia di Campriano) #The North Wind's Gift ( Mugello) (Il regalo del vento tramontano) #The Sorceress's Head (Upper Val d'Arno) (La testa della Maga) #Apple Girl (

Firenze Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

) (La ragazza mela) # Prezzemolina (

) #The Fine Greenbird (

) (L'Uccel bel-verde) # The King in the Basket (

) #The One-Handed Murderer (

) #The Two Hunchbacks (

) #Pete and the Ox (

) # The King of the Peacocks (

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

) #The Palace of the Doomed Queen (

) #The Little Geese (

) #Water in the Basket (

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

) #Fourteen (

) #Jack Strong, Slayer of Five Hundred (

) #Crystal Rooster (

) #A Boat for Land and Water (Rome) #The Neapolitan Soldier (Rome) #Belmiele and Belsole (Rome) #The Haughty Prince (Rome) #Wooden Maria (Rome) #Louse Hide (Rome) #Cicco Petrillo (Rome) #Nero and Bertha (Rome) # The Love of the Three Pomegranates (

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

) #Joseph Ciufolo, Tiller-Flutist (

) #

(

) #The Mangy One (

) #The Wildwood King (

) #Mandorlinfiore (

) #The Three Blind Queens (

) #Hunchback Wryneck Hobbler (

) #One-Eye (

) #The False Grandmother (

) #Frankie-Boy's Trade (

) #Shining Fish (

) #Miss North Wind and Mr. Zephyr (

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

) #The Palace Mouse and the Garden Mouse (

) #The Moor's Bones (

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

) #The Chicken Laundress ( Irpinia) #Crack, Crook, and Hook ( Irpinia) #First Sword and Last Broom (

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

) #Mrs. Fox and Mr. Wolf (

) #The Five Scapegraces ( Terra d'Otranto) #Ari-Ari, Donkey, Donkey, Money, Money! ( Terra d'Otranto) #The School of Salamanca ( Terra d'Otranto) #The Tale of the Cats ( Terra d'Otranto) #Chick ( Terra d'Otranto) # The Slave Mother ( Terra d'Otranto) #The Sire Wife (

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

) # The Princesses Wed to the First Passer-By (

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

) #Liombruno (

) #Cannelora (

) #Filo d'Oro and Filomena (

) #The Thirteen Bandits (

) #The Three Orphans (

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

) # Sleeping Beauty and Her Children (

) # The Handmade King (

) #The Turkey Hen (

) #The Three Chicory Gatherers (

) #Beauty-with-the-Seven-Dresses (

) #Serpent King (

) #The Widow and the Brigand ( Greci di Calabria) #The Crab with the Golden Eggs ( Greci di Calabria) #Nick Fish (Palermo) #Grattula-Beddattula (Palermo) # Misfortune (Palermo) #Pippina the Serpent (Palermo) #Catherine the Wise (Palermo) #The Ismailian Merchant (Palermo) #The Thieving Dove (Palermo) #Dealer in Peas and Beans (Palermo) #The Sultan with the Itch (Palermo) #The Wife Who Lived on Wind (Palermo) #Wormwood (Palermo) #The King of Spain and the English Milord (Palermo) #The Bejeweled Boot (Palermo) #The Left-Hand Squire (Palermo) #Rosemary (Palermo) #Lame Devil (Palermo) #Three Tales by Three Sons of Three Merchants (Palermo) #The Dove Girl (Palermo) #Jesus and St. Peter in Sicily (Palermo) #The Barber's Timepiece (Inland vicinity of Palermo) #The Count's Sister (Inland vicinity of Palermo) #Master Francesco Sit-Down-and-Eat (Inland vicinity of Palermo) #The Marriage of Queen and a Bandit (Madonie) #The Seven Lamb Heads (Ficarazzi) #The Two Sea Merchants (Province of Palermo) #Out in the World (Salaparuta) #A Boat Loaded with… (Salaparuta) #The King's Son in the Henhouse (Salaparuta) #The Mincing Princess (Province of Trapani) #The Great Narbone (Province of Agrigento) #Animal Talk and the Nosy Wife (Province of Agrigento) #The Calf with the Golden Horns (Province of Agrigento) #The Captain and the General (Province of Agrigento) #The Peacock Feather (Province of Caltanissetta) #The Garden Witch (Province of Caltanissetta) #The Mouse with the Long Tail (Caltanissetta) #The Two Cousins (Province of Ragusa) #The Two Muleteers (Province of Ragusa) #Giovannuzza the Fox (Catania) #The Child that Fed the Crucifix (Catania) #Steward Truth (Catania) #The Foppish King (Acireale) #The Princess with the Horns (Acireale) #Giufa (Sicily) #Fra Ignazio (Campidano) #Solomon's Advice (Campidano) #The Man Who Robbed the Robbers (ampidano) #The Lions' Grass (Nurra) #The Convent of Nuns and the Monastery of Monks (Nurra) #The Male Fern (Gallura) #St. Anthony's Gift (Logudoro) #March and the Shepherd (Marzo e il Pastore) (Corsica) #John Balento (Corsica) #Jump into My Sack (Corsica)

Reception

Reviewing the book in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'',

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

wrote: "Essentially this book is to Italian literature what the Grimms' collection is to German literature. It is both the first and the standard. And its particular glory is that it was done not by a scholar-specialist but by a great writer of fiction... With absolute sureness of touch he selected, combined, rewove, reshaped so that each tale and the entire collection would show at its best, clear and strong, without obscurity or repetition. It was, of course, both his privilege and his responsibility as a teller of tales to do so. He assumed his privilege without question, and fulfilled his responsibility magnificently. One of the best storytellers alive telling us some of the best stories in the world—what luck!"

References

;General
Chronology of Calvino's works
{{Italo Calvino Stories within Italian Folktales