The myths and legends of Italy’s ancient inhabitants is much better known than its folklore of later years. What many people may not realise is that much of those later folk beliefs, such as that of fairies and other otherworldly creatures actually were a survival of those ancient myths.
Considering that many of those elements of folklore only started disappearing after the world wars of the 20th century, the appeal and power of those beliefs was quite impressive. Furthermore, as a small but growing number of Italians continues to reconstruct ancient Roman religion, practise stregheria, or get involved in other Neo-Pagan traditions, those myths and folklores are making a come-back in surprising ways.
Anyone who wants to explore the landscapes that provided fertile ground for belief in fairies should travel to the northern alpine regions of the country, or to the Apennine mountains in the south. In northern Italian places such as Alta Adige and Trentino, the stories of those legendary creatures were influenced by Germanic tales of capricious shining elves. In the mountains of the peninsula, the simplicity of rural life meant that supernatural explanations of various events around village and farm were once much more common than they are now.
One of the most enduring aspects of Italian belief in fairies is that they were agents of fate and destiny. The very word ‘fata’ itself was derived from the Latin word ‘Fatae’ or ‘fatum’, which means ‘Fate’. If those old beliefs were still commonplace today, some players would be keen appease the fairies for good luck before they play online Blackjack games for real money.
Of course, any offers of help received from suspected fairies would be met with suspicion by most rural Italians. They would have been careful not to upset fairies, but they also took care to avoid all sorts of other involvement with them.
Disney has been happy to push the idea of sweet-natured helpful spirits for almost a century. However, if any elderly Italians remember what their grandparents told them about fairies, they would all disagree with Disney.
In Italy, fairies always appear as in a beautiful female form – and much like the sirens of the ancient Greeks and the Lorelei of the Germans, they would lure unsuspecting folk into all sorts of deception and dangerous situations.
The modern image of the supernatural creatures has much to do with Victorian artists, 20th century illustrators, and, of course, Disney. New audiences may be used to seeing fairies as small, childlike creatures with butterfly wings. The traditional way of envisioning them in Italy, however, is very different to Cecily Mary Barker’s paintings.
For Italians, the creatures wore the long, flowing gowns popular among 15th century women, as well as the tall, cone-shaped hats that sometimes had a veil attached to the tip, known as hennin. Many Italians also envisioned them carrying wands used to work magic. The colour most often associated with them was blue. Perhaps some of the girls dressed like that at Carnival know something the rest of us do not?