Italian legendary creatures

thumb|upright=1.15|Giovanni Lanfranco: Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre, [[oil on canvas, c. 1624]] An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, humanoid being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of literature, and are most often associated in fairy tales and legend.

thumb|Bergstutz or Stollwurm In the folklore of the Alpine region of south-central Europe, the (), , or is a lizard-like creature, essentially a sort of dragon (see Germanic dragon), often described as having the face of a cat, with a serpent-like body which may be slender or stubby, with four short legs or two forelegs and no hindlegs, the latter a trait shared with many lindworms. Stories of essentially the same creature also exist in the folklore of South Sweden.

mythical figure common in western European legend

thumb|A depiction of the mythical dahu The dahu () is a legendary creature that resembles a mountain goat and is well known in France and francophone regions of Switzerland and Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a small, horned goat-antelope once plentiful in European mountainous regions, and also resembles the ibex.

thumb|200px|The coat of arms of the Visconti of Milan showing the biscione wearing a crown

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Italian folktale

Supernatural female beings comparable to the fairies of English folklore.

In Italian folklore, Lariosauro is a lake monster said to live in Lake Como in Italy, about north of Milan. Como is one of the deepest European lakes, at about at the deepest location.

thumb|An Art Nouveau vignette to the story Zâna apelor ("Water Fairy") Anguane are mythical creatures in Northern Italian folklore, which are traditionally depicted as cloven-footed water nymphs with beautiful faces and long breasts. They were said to have carried their children in baskets held on their backs, and to have been able to throw their breasts over their backs to nurse these children. Anguane were believed to resided in or nearby lakes. According to myth, Anguane seduce male wayfarers and help infertile women become pregnant.

Monacello (), or Munaciello (), is a sprite from the traditional oral folklore of Naples, Italy.

thumb|Artistic representation of a squasc. The squasc (pronounced ) is a mythological being of the Eastern Lombardy region folklore.