Favole, 2018 footnotes

These are the footnotes of Favole if you want to learn more about some of the stories told during the show.

It was a totally brand new show, a totally new experience, in which I had to get out of my comfort zone to try and do something new.

Ai tempi della Berta

Ai tempi della Berta is a manner of speach which literally translates to "at the time of Berta" meaning something not only old but also out of fashion.

During the show a song was named, the song was written in 1976 by Rino Gaetano and it's called "Berta filava" (Berta used to weave)

References:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_tempi_che_Berta_filava (Italian)

Tarot cards

Tarot cards, originated in Italy having their first written record appearing in 1442, in Ferrara.
Italians, didn't invent playing cards, they were most likely exposed to them at one point during the 13th century trough the Egyptian Mameluks, which in turn got the idea from the Chinese.
The egyptians tough, where the first to use the modern 52 cards deck, using the polo club, coins, swords and cups as the suits, traditional playing cards decks in Italy still use these suits, commonly referred as Briscola decks, in honour of the game that initially used Tarot cards.

Italians added the 22 extra cards called Trionfi. The origin of these cards and the reason why they carry such powerful images are uknown, what we do know is that Tarot cards were used in what is knows as "giochi da presa" grabbing games literally, where you capture a card by playing a card of a higher value, this Trionfi were added as the most powerful cards, able to catch all the other cards, and are the reason why we have the term "trump card" in the common language, referring to something that is an advantage.

A possible explanation for these symbols was that during the 15th century, in the courts of Italy, nobles used these cards as kind of a social game, to test verbal abilities. Nobles, after selecting some cards, just like you did, had to use them to describe a person, most likely in jest.
We still have some of these stories in a book called "Le carte parlanti", the talking cards, written by Pietro Aretino in 1543.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana

Il re porco

A full write up of the meaning of this fable can be found, in English in the book: "Fairy-tale Science: Monstrous Generation in the Tales of Straparola and Basile" written by Suzanne Magnanini.
A copy can be found in google books

The dancing plague

There are quite a few resources to learn more about the dancing plauge. I highly recommend a podcast called "Lore" (Episode 57)

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518

The ballad of the blind love