What is "pintosmalto"

Pintosmalto is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.

Italo Calvino included a variant from oral tradition, The Handmade King, based on two tales from Calabria. He noted that variants are also found in Naples, Abruzzo, and Sicily.

It is Aarne-Thompson type 425, the search for the lost bridegroom, in an unusual variation, involving motifs similar to Pygmalion and Galatea.