It is clear in the stories, mainly Strega Nona, Her Story, that Nona is the character's actual name. Hence "Strega Nona" means "Grandma Witch". In the Italian language, the word "strega" means "witch" and the word "nonna" means "grandmother", misspelled as "nona" in the book title. Later printings of the book bear the accurate subtitle "an original tale written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola". He wrote the words "Strega Nona" next to a doodle of a woman's head he drew in the early 1970s and later made her the main character in his story based on the Sweet Porridge fairy tale. By nightfall, he is stuffed.ĭetail of title page of an early printing with incorrect "an old tale retold." subtitleĪlthough the cover and title page of early printings of the book stated that Strega Nona is "an old tale retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola", in truth dePaola invented the character and the story himself. The townsfolk want to lynch Big Anthony, but Strega Nona intervenes, saying " the punishment must fit the crime," and hands a fork to Big Anthony and commands him to eat all of the pasta he has conjured. Disaster is averted when Strega Nona returns and immediately blows the three kisses to stop the pot's cooking. However, since Big Anthony cannot stop the pot from cooking, the spaghetti gradually cover Strega Nona's house and nearly floods the entire town. The moment she is gone, Big Anthony gets out the pasta pot and successfully conjures up large amounts of pasta, which he then serves to the townsfolk. He gets his chance two days later when Strega Nona leaves to visit her friend Strega Amelia and leaves the house in his care. He vows to one day impress them by making the pasta pot cook by himself. Big Anthony complies, but one night he secretly observes Strega Nona singing a spell to the magic pasta pot to produce large amounts of cooked spaghetti noodles the man is impressed, but unfortunately, he fails to notice that she blows kisses to the pot three times to stop the pasta production.īig Anthony tries to share his discovery with the townsfolk the next day, but he is laughed at and disbelieved. Knowing that he pays little attention, Strega Nona informs Big Anthony of his duties carefully and clearly, adding only one restriction - never to touch her magic pasta pot. She helps her fellow villagers with their troubles, most notably by curing headaches, helping single women find husbands, and ridding people of warts.īecause she is getting old, Strega Nona employs the assistance of a young man named Big Anthony to do the household chores. She is a sort of wise Woman and witch doctor noted throughout her home village for her numerous successful remedies. Set in Calabria, in southern Italy, the book focuses on the exploits of Strega Nona. It was one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.
The book, which is likely dePaola's best-known work, was published in 1975 and won a Caldecott Honor in 1976. Big Anthony causes the title character's magic pasta pot to create so much pasta that it nearly floods and buries a town.
It concerns Strega Nona (resembling what would be "Grandma Witch" in Italian, although this would actually be "Nonna Strega", with the two words inverted and the first one spelled with a double n) and her helper, Big Anthony.
If considered as a folktale, the story is Aarne-Thompson type 565, the Magic Mill. Strega Nona is a children's picturebook written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Cover with correct "an original tale." subtitle
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