This Europe: Italy claims Snow White - and her seven dwarfs

Snow White and her seven dwarfs were Italian, not German, as has long been presumed, claims a book by an Italian literature scholar.

The fairy tale, set down by the Brothers Grimm at the end of the 19th century, was traditionally thought to have its roots in German folklore.

But Giuliano Palmieri, an academic in Treviso, claims Snow White, or perhaps Biancaneve, came from the Dolomites in a region of the Cordevole river north of Belluno. The area was known for its magnesium-rich iron mines, which provided the raw material to make weapons for Venice.

Dr Palmieri says the fairy tale derives from an ancient ritual in the regions when a beautiful, noble girl would be sent down a mine which was running low in ore so she could "transmit her vital energy to Mother Earth".

And the miners would have had to have been small to fit in tiny tunnels, hence the seven dwarfs, Dr Palmieri says in his book The Lost Kingdoms of the White Mountains.

It is likely many were of German origin, and told the story to relatives over the border, where it was eventually picked up by the Brothers Grimm, he believes. The theory comes at a time when fairly tales and their origins are the focus of considerable attention in Italy, and the country is keen to claim back its own. Anticipation of a new film of Pinocchio, directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, famed for La Vita e Bella, is at fever pitch before its release in Italy on 11 October.

"The funny thing is that now it is necessary to explain to the Americans why an Italian is making Pinocchio," Nicola Piovani, who has composed the music, told an Italian newspaper. "They are convinced he was invented by Walt Disney."