Le fiabe sonore

Not long before Christmas 1966, the Fratelli Fabbri editors distributed a promotional disc of “Le Fiabe Sonore”, with “I tre Porcellini”, free of charge in the newsstands. The following week, the first official issue, “Puss in Boots” by Charles Perrault, came out, accompanied by a large format (27x35) issue with splendid romantic and yet ironic, alluring, but modern illustrations.

Many of us, at the time, did not yet know how to read. It was our parents, therefore, who initiated us into magic, who opened the doors of fantasy to us, who introduced us to a world that would have enriched, bewitched, enchanted, frightened, amazed us. Week after week, we would learn to read and write also thanks to the Sound Tales, absorbing new and unknown words, not always easy.

The fairy tales came out continuously from 1966 to 1970, recorded on 45 rpm records and accompanied by beautiful books, illustrated by well-known painters: Pikka, Una, Ferri, Max and Sergio.

After having listened to them from our parents, we then relied on the deep and reassuring voice of Silverio Pisu (1937–2004) actor, voice actor, singer, writer and screenwriter. We curled up on the sofa on cold winter evenings, with the book on our knees, enraptured by the figures, with our ears strained to grasp the slightest difference between the written text and the narrating voice. Or, cold and feverish, we spread the fairy tales radially on the bed, took the vinyl record out of its case, and anxiously inserted it into the disc player. The little finger pressed, the button was lowered…