Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile (about 1566–1632) was a Neapolitan poet, soldier and courtier. He served as a soldier in the pay of Venice, spent time at the court of Mantua, and held posts as governor of several towns in the Kingdom of Naples, while writing verse in Italian. His lasting work is Lo cunto de li cunti, the Tale of Tales, better known as the Pentamerone, a collection of fifty fairy tales in Neapolitan dialect, published by his sister Adriana after his death. It contains the earliest literary versions of stories later known as Cinderella, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty.