It has been a tradition in my family for years to read bedtime stories to the children every single night. I still remember my father reading tales of adventure to me when I was young. Now that I am a father of twins, a wonderful boy and girl named Anthony and Angela, my role has become not only dad, but also storyteller.
Recently my two children have been obsessing over fairy tales, as many children do. They see the royalty in these stories as something to aspire to be. If you asked Angela what she wants to be when she is grown, her response would be a princess in hopes of one day becoming a queen. This is the same for Anthony as he hopes to be a prince in line to take the crown as king. When they hear these fairy tales, they believe that all royalty has the perfect life, that they always get their happily ever after. What they don’t see at the young age of five is that the royalty in fairy tales have many trials and tribulations that they must go through in order to receive their happily ever after.
Because they have been begging me to tell them more stories about princes and princesses every night, I have decided to do just that. As a father, I've grown accustomed to telling traditional Disney fairy tales each night. I enjoy those those stories as much as the next guy. However, at the end of the month we are taking a family trip to visit my father in Italy and I think it would be fun to integrate some Italian history into our bedtime stories. For the next three days, instead of telling them the fairy tales they know and love for the thousandth time, I will tell them those of our heritage.
Our family is from Naples, Italy and our heritage is something that were carry very close to our hearts. So, what better way to share our family history with my children than tying it into our bedtime stories? Italy has many tales of royalty with princes and princesses that my children will love and hold close to them for many years.
The stories that I will tell them over the next three nights are all tales of Italian royalty including Cenerentola, Parrastra, and The Fair Fiorita.
Banner Image: Fenis Castle