Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
"Italian Folktales" by Italo Calvino is a captivating compilation of traditional stories rooted in Italy's rich oral storytelling heritage. In this collection, Calvino presents around two hundred tales, artfully blending and embellishing various versions to create polished narratives that reflect the essence of the original folktales. The stories encompass a wide range of themes, including animal fables, religious allegories, and adventurous legends, drawing from diverse Italian dialects and cultural contexts.
While many tales date back to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some, like "The Count's Beard," were collected more recently, illustrating the ongoing evolution of these narratives. The collection features elements from both classical mythology and European literature, showcasing familiar characters and motifs, such as the diabolical Silver Nose or the clever Giovannuzza the Fox. Although the folktales often lack conventional plot structures, their fantastical elements and themes of magic and transformation offer readers a unique entertainment experience.
Despite their whimsical nature, many stories contain darker undertones and themes that may not be suitable for younger audiences, reflecting the complexity of human relationships and emotions. Through his imaginative retellings, Calvino honors the cultural significance of these tales, providing insights into the human spirit's resilience amidst trials and tribulations. Overall, "Italian Folktales" serves as an important literary work that brings Italy's folk traditions to life in a compelling and accessible manner.
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Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
First published:Fiabe italiane, 1956 (as Italian Fables, 1959; as Italian Folktales, 1980)
Subjects: Animals, coming-of-age, love and romance, social issues, and the super-natural
Type of work: Short fiction
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Form and Content
Folktales are traditional stories told repeatedly by successive generations of storytellers. Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales is not a collection of folktales per se, because he both embellishes the stories and combines elements of various versions to form polished literary renditions. Nevertheless, Calvino neither patronizes nor slavishly imitates his sources; instead, he skillfully reconstructs the folktales in a style worthy of the original narrations. He presents two hundred short tales, from all Italian dialects. The collection includes animal and fairy tales, religious allegories and legends, and adventure and anecdotal stories. In addition, Calvino provides an informative introduction and notes on the original sources, the Italian locales of the versions selected, and, when available, the names or descriptions of the original storytellers.
Calvino primarily presents tales from the oral tradition, collected in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but there are notable exceptions; for example, “The Count’s Beard” was collected as late as 1956. Ultimately, however, many of these folktales have roots in much earlier—if not ancient—literary sources. Elements from the myth of Cupid and Psyche are quite popular (in “King Crin”), as are those concerning the cyclops Polyphemus (in “One-Eye” and “The Florentine”) and Danaë, the mother of the Greek hero Perseus (in “The Daughter of the Sun”). “The Palace Mouse and the Garden Mouse” is an adaptation of Aesop’s famous fable of the city mouse and the country mouse, testifying to the longevity of such stories in folk tradition. Still other European literature influences the folktales: A Morgan le Fay figure appears in “The Sleeping Queen,” and tales resembling medieval ballads and stories from the fifteenth century The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments are also featured.
A logically structured plot is often absent in these folktales, but their fantastical nature and unpredictable appearance of magic make for extraordinarily rewarding entertainment. The quintessential Italian folktale, “The Love of the Three Pomegranates,” for example, centers on a paradox: a desire to find a girl “both milk-white and blood-red.” It continues with a series of marvelous situations that themselves transcend the limits of reality, so that death itself appears as a temporary condition, a mere pause between transformations and enchantments.
Furthermore, the tales often represent a dichotomy between the royal and the rustic. Enchanted palaces and aristocratic courts abound, but so do everyday toil in the fields and peasant labor. Consequently, the tales engage kings and queens, merchants and peasants, maidens and witches, friars and saints, devils and fairies, animals, and a cadre of fantastical creatures including giants, ogres, and dragons.
Many of the folktales have recognizable and popular story lines, with colorful Italian versions of the protagonists. For example, the diabolical Silver Nose (the Devil in disguise) plays the role of Bluebeard, who disposes of disobedient wives until he is bested by the wise peasant girl Lucia. Giovannuzza the Fox encapsulates all the daring of Puss-in-Boots. Giricoccola overcomes her sisters’ scheming as proficiently as does Cinderella. Three geese or three orphaned daughters replace the three little pigs, who build their houses and vie with a hungry fox or wolf. A girl who travels to Borgoforte to care for her sick mother discovers troubles not unlike those of Little Red Riding Hood.
Critical Context
Although Italo Calvino notes that Italian folktales do not linger on life’s more grim aspects, nevertheless many may be inappropriate for younger children. The dark humor, suggestive language, sexual innuendo, and frank eruptions of bodily functions all contribute to masterfully retold folktales, but they also confirm that these stories were not composed solely for children. Amputations and other grisly fates await many characters, witches are burned at the stake, parents often abandon their children, and, unlike the boy in “Animal Speech,” not all children forgive their parents’ misgivings. In fact, family relationships are often compromised, if not antagonistic: In “The Widow and the Brigand,” the son of a treacherous mother subsequently puts her to death. While these melancholic aspects almost always yield to a successful ending for the young protagonist, their portrayal of humanity’s darker aspects may be unsettling to the unsuspecting reader.
The seeming lack of logical plot may be confusing at first, but once embraced it provides a rewarding experience into the imagination and creative wisdom of Italian folk traditions. Calvino is not overly concerned with the anthropological significance of these folktales, nor does he force interpretations from them; rather, he successfully aims to entertain with wondrous Italian fantasies. In this way, his work is an important literary rendering of traditional stories in their Italian versions, and he introduces a compelling cast of characters. Giufà, Bella Venezia, Nick Fish, and Giricoccola survive because they and their misadventures address human emotions, aspirations, and troubles; ultimately, they celebrate the ways in which the human spirit triumphs over the trials of human existence.