Continuing recent essays about quirky northern Italian stories, here are some intertwined creatures that roam through their folklore. These particular stories, not very well known in English sources, touch upon memory loss, losing one’s way, and environmental concerns. Sanguanél and Salvanèl The first little creature has two slightly different
Lately, I find myself recalling places and stories from Italy. Here is a recollection from the Province of Treviso, in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. The village is called Camalò. It’s not particularly remarkable to look at or to pass through. Back in the 1970s, when driving to
Folktales from the Euganean Hills Years ago I lived near the area of the Colli Euganei (the Euganean Hills). They only rise to between 300-600 metres in height, but with everything else around them being completely flat, they do stand out. The area is named after an ancient pre-Roman
All the best stories come from long ago, and this is one such story. This is my retelling and re-imagining of it: There once was — or there once was not — a story, in the oldest days and ages, in a land so far away it was beyond seven mountains, beyond
Who knows if they are still among us? The Anishinaabeg of Mississauga believed the Credit River was home to a group of tiny people — we night think of them as elves, sprites, spirits, little people — that they called the Mamagwasewug. Part of the folklore of many tribes, the Mamagwasewug were
The earthquake in Northern Italy happened on May 6, 1976, at exactly 9 PM. Later major aftershocks occurred on the 11th and 15th of September. I was there and will always remember. Not at the epicenter, but certainly well within the range where the earthquake was felt. But first a