"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

#Spooktober 22: The Silver Nose

Famed Italian author Italo Calvino, an author some intellectuals fiercely insist he never wrote fantasy or science fiction way beyond the point of the ridiculous, collected and translated 200 folktales from around the Country and published them in a vastly underrated book.
Among them, some tales will sound familiar and were already presented by Giambattista Basile in his Pentamerone, only to become famous because of Perrault or the Grimm Bros: there’s Beauty and the Beast (Bellinda and the Monster from Tuscany), Cinderella (Grattula Beddattula from Sicily), Snow White (La Bella Venezia, literally Beautiful Venice from Abruzzo), Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty and her children from Calabria), and Bluebeard (The Silver Nose from Pedimont).
Today I bring you the last one: it features the Devil, laundry and a very clever girl.
The illustration in the header comes from the fantastic project by Rebecca Yanovskaya, who illustrated the horror tabletop RolePlaying Game Bluebeard’s Wife for Magpie Games. You can see her work here.
You can read the rest on my Patreon.
books and literature

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

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June 11, 2025 10:00 am
architecture, engineering and construction

Ornaments in Transit: Tracing Milan’s Art Deco Echoes

Do you remember last month, when we took a stroll through Milan in the wake of Casorati’s new exhibition at Palazzo Reale? I would be amiss if I didn’t follow up with another walk inspired by another, great show, closing this month, so here we

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June 11, 2025 10:00 am
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Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

June 11, 2025

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

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