Gianfrancesco Straparola

Giovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola, also known as Zoan or Zuan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio (c. 1480 – c. 1557) was a writer from Caravaggio, Italy. His principal work is Le piacevoli notti, a collection of 75 stories. Modelled on Decamerone, it has participants of a 13-night party in the island of Murano, near Venice, tell each other stories that vary from the bawdy to the fantastic.

Among the tales are:
 The Pig King
 Costantino Fortunato, the oldest known variant of "Puss in Boots"
 Ancilotto, King of Provino, the oldest known variant of "The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird"
 Biancabella and the Snake
 Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi
 Guerrino and the Savage Man, the oldest known variant of "Iron John"Paul Delarue. 1956. The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. p. 384.
 Fortunio, the earliest European appearance of a story about killing or injuring someone while attempting to shoo away a fly
 Costanza / Costanzo

 References 

 Other websites 
 SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Facetious Nights of Straparola , an English translation of many tales

Category:1480s births
Category:1550s deaths
Category:Italian writers