There are many popular tales that involve mythical beings with animal features. Among the many, in Valsesia there is the legend of the wild man, or "l'òmm salvaig" in dialect.
"Once upon a time there was an old man of such a wild nature that he stayed all alone, even in the heart of winter, in that place of the Otro Alps [...] The wild man continued to dwell until who knows when in die Saccu; the Otro Alps continued to produce only rye and potatoes; wheat and vines are still to come" as the scholar Ragozza recounted in his 1983 collection.
This man, who lives in the wild, is found very frequently in the mountain traditions of Valsesia. In Campertogno, the characteristic legends have been handed down through the generations in different versions, but always with specific references to the customs and places of the village.
The Wild Man appears under different forms that vary from place to place, even if a common character remains, that is to say that of living in the woods and in the caves. In spite of his rough appearance, he has a positive rather than a negative valence: in general, the novelistic literature presents him as a good wild man, depositary of an ancient knowledge, which he shares with those who welcome him in a friendly way.
Again, in Italian fables, the Wild Man is the bearer of a refined agro-pastoral culture, unknown to men, and guards ancient knowledge: proverbs, the therapeutic properties of herbs, the language of animals. Sometimes the Wild Man was captured and forced to reveal his secrets.
