The importance of talking to the emperor: Italo Calvino’s Nerone e Berta

摘要

This paper is a study of Nerone e Berta, a tale included in Fiabe italiane of Italo Calvino (1923-1985). Its protagonists are the Roman spinner Berta and the Roman emperor Nero. The tale may be studied as an interesting aspect of the modern reception of Nero and an instructive feature of the general project of Calvino’s Fiabe.