Background
According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while other sources have February 1566.
According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while other sources have February 1566.
Born in Giugliano to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. In Venice he began to write poetry. Later he returned to Naples to serve as a courtier under the patronage of Don Marino II Caracciolo, prince of Avellino, to whom he dedicated his idyll L’Aretusa (1618).
By the time of his death he had reached the rank of "count" Conte di Torrone.
The following year his villanella Smorza crudel amore was set to music and in 1608 he published his poem Il Pianto della Vergine. lieutenant later became known as the Pentamerone.
Although neglected for some time, the work received a great deal of attention after the Brothers Grimm praised it highly as the first national collection of fairy tales. Many of these fairy tales are the oldest known variants in existence.
They include the earliest known versions of Rapunzel and Cinderella.
Giambattista Basile spent much time in the courts of the nobles of the kingdom of Naples. Tales of Pentamerone are set in the woods and castles of the Basilicata, in particular the city of Acerenza.
