Description

Giovanni Francesco (or Gianfrancesco) Straparola (c. 1480-c. 1557) was an Italian writer and fairy tale collector. He has been termed the progenitor of the literary form of the fairy tale in Europe. Charles Perrault borrowed most of his stories from Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile. While his given name is likely to have been "Giovanni Francesco", the last name of "Straparola" is not plausible. It is not typical of a family name of that time and place, and the literal meaning of it, "babbler", seems a likely nickname for a writer. Straparola's main work is the collection Le Piacevoli Potti (published in English as The Nights of Straparola or The Facetious Nights of Straparola). It was first published in Italy between 1550-53. Modelled on Il Decamerone, it has participants of a 13-night party in the island of Murano, near Venice, tell each other stories that vary from bawdy to fantastic. It contains the first known written versions of many fairy tales.