Italian Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables
Read Italian fairy tales from the ancient collection, Stories from the Pentamerone, as well as from Andrew Lang and others. Jump to full list of Italian fairy tales.
The princess and the horrid dragon.” Illustration by Morris Meredith Williams from The Italian Fairy Book, published 1911.
About: Some Italian fairy tales, folk tales and legends can be traced back thousands of years, and similarities between stories are found in French, Spanish and Celtic traditions as well. The abundant collection of Italy’s folk tales we have today comes to us from contemporary written accounts of Medieval Italian folklore.
Gianfrancesco Straparola published a collection of fairy tales in Italy during the 1500s that were also published in France; thus, crossing cultural and political borders. In the mid-1600s, Giambattista Basile recorded some of the earliest literary versions of fairy tales in his Pentamerone, also known as Stories from the Pentamerone. The collection was published by his sister after his death. Other authors would later draw from his collection for inspiration including The Brothers Grimm. Andrew Lang included stories from Italy in his Rainbow Fairy Books. Italo Calvino’s collection of Italian Folktales from the 1950s remains a popular reader for young and old alike, and is one of the most comprehensive collections available today.
Embedded within the tales of Italy are proverbs, jokes and anecdotes that reveal the unique regional and cultural characteristics found across Italy. A favorite style of narrative found in Italian folklore is called the Fabliau. This was a humorous style that often poked fun at clergymen or others in authority. The stories were centered around ridiculous situations and plot lines with the main character as a buffoon.
With the rise of Catholicism in Italy, many pagan traditions were replaced or masked over with religious icons and customs. This form of sympathetic magic can be found in Italian legends and fairy stories as old pagan medicinal practices merged, for example, with prayers to saints, and other interesting concoctions that allowed the two practices to co-exist and find new life in fairy stories and legends.
Not all Italian fairy tales were originally intended to be children’s stories, but with translations and adaptations that toned down the more gruesome or horrific elements, they found their way into the hearts of children the world over. Many popular tales like Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty were based, albeit loosely, on true events.
Listen to Italian fairy tales and folktales plus hundreds of other fairy tale audiobooks in the Fairytalez Audio Book App for Apple and Android devices.
- The Clever Girl
- The Colony of Cats
- The Crystal Casket
- Cenerentola
- The Cunning Shoemaker
- Catherine and Her Destiny
- Cannetella
- The Cloud
- Corvetto
- The Cistern
- The Curse of the Seven Children
- The Clever Girl
- Crab
- The Clever Peasant
- Conclusion
- The Cobbler
- Catherine and Her Fate
- The Crumb in the Beard
- The Castle of Life
- Desperate Malachus
- Malachus at the Column
- The Dove
- The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple and the Speaking Bird
- Don Giovanni de la Fortuna
- The Dragon
- Don Joseph Pear
- The Frog
- The Flea
- Firrazzanu's Wife and the Queen
- The Fair Angiola
- Fair Maria Wood
- The Fair Fiorita
- The Fool (Italian Folktale)
- The Fairy Orlanda
- Fair Brow
- The Goat and the Fox
- The Gossips of St. John
- Giufà's Exploits
- Godfather Misery
- Giufà and the Judge
- Goat-Face
- Giufà and the Plaster Statue
- The Golden Lion
- The Griffin
- The Golden Root
- The Goat-Faced Girl
- How to To Tell a True Friend
- How the Beggar Boy Turned into Count Piro
- How the Tales Came to Be Told
- How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter
- How the Devil Married Three Sisters
- The King Who Would Have a Beautiful Wife
- The King of Love
- King Bean
- The King Who Wanted a Beautiful Wife
- Lionbruno
- The Lord, St. Peter and the Apostles
- The Lord, St. Peter and the Blacksmith
- The Love of Three Oranges
- The Language of Animals (Italian Folk Tale)
- The Little Omelet
- Peter Fullune and the Egg
- Prunella
- The Peasant and his Master
- Pilate
- Paperarelloo
- Pepper-Corn
- The Peruonto
- Parsley
- Pippo
- Pintosmalto
- The Parrot (First Version)
- The Parrot (Second Version)
- The Story of Bensurdatu
- The Simpleton
- Scissors They Were
- The Story of Judas
- The Story of Crivòliu
- Sir Fiorante, Magician
- The Serpent Prince
- The Stepmother (Italian fairy tale)
- The Serpent
- The She-Bear
- The Story of Ciccu
- The Stone in the Cock's Head
- The Seven Doves
- Sun, Moon and Talia
- St. Peter and His Sisters
- Snow-White-Fire-Red
- The Shepherd
- The Shepherd Who Made the King's Daughter Laugh
- The Treasure
- The Three Admonitions
- Thirteenth
- The Three Sisters
- The Two Brothers (Italian Fairy Tale)
- The Three Enchanted Princes
- The Two Cakes
- The Three Citrons
- The Two Humpbacks
- Truthful Joseph
- The Three Brother Beasts
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