Stories from Pentamerone

The collection of folk-tales known as Il Pentamerone was first published at Naples and in the Neapolitan dialect, by Giambattista Basile, Conte di Torrone, who is believed to have collected them chiefly in Crete and Venice, and to have died about the year 1637.

As one of the oldest known fairy tale collections ever Stories from the Pentamerone influenced several famous storytellers, including the Brothers Grimm stories. Known in the Italian as Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille (The Tale of Tales or Entertainment for Little Ones), the Pentamerone is one of the most influential literature works in the fairy tale genre today.