Masuccio Salernitano

Michael Papio

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born c. 1415
Died 1474
Activity c. 1450-1474

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Story-writer

Resources

Salernitano's Works

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Tommaso Guardati (much better known as Masuccio Salernitano) wrote one collection of short stories entitled

Il Novellino

, which appeared posthumously in its integral version in 1475. He was born in Salerno or Sorrento around 1415 and moved to Naples with his family shortly thereafter. Despite their earlier affiliation with the Angevins, the Guardatis seem to have aligned themselves with the Aragonese rather quickly. By 1469, even before joining the service of Roberto Sanseverino, Masuccio had become a member of Ferrante d’Arragona’s court. He began to compose his “letter-novellas”, in the style of Boccaccio’s

Decameron

, most probably between 1450 and 1457 and appears to have sent them to some of the most powerful characters of Aragonese society. Though probably not among the…

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811 words

Citation: Papio, Michael. "Masuccio Salernitano". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11681, accessed 26 November 2024.]