Step 3 of 4

“ricche e gentili con tacchi altissimi”

Fig: Glass Slipper (Ugly Blister), 2001 - Timothy Horn - [National Gallery of Austrailia](https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?IRN=140230)

Fig: Glass Slipper (Ugly Blister), 2001 - Timothy Horn - National Gallery of Austrailia

The very first European literary version of Cinderella is the Italian or Neapolitan version by Giambattista Basile. In La Gatta Cenerentola, Cinderella, who is actually called Zezolla at first, loses her shoe on the third night of the party hosted by the king. This happens while she is already in her carriage, which rides away hastily. She is in such a hurry because the king’s servant tries to get a hold of her each night of the party. He is simply following the orders of the king, who is completely enchanted by her. The shoe is depicted in the story as “rich and delicate and with very high heels”.

That the shoe is described as rich is characteristic for the Baroque period, and so is the way in which the king exuberantly expresses his opinion regarding the shoe: “Se il fondamento è così bello, che sarà mai la casa?”Giambattista Basile, Il pentamerone, ossia La fiaba delle fiabe translation in Italian by Benedetto Croce. (Bari: Laterza, 1925), 80.; test curated by Edoardo Mori. Bolzano, 2017., which translates to “If the foundation is this beautiful, imagine what the house will be like?”