Ariosto, Ludovico (1474–1533)

Italian poet. He wrote Latin poems and comedies on classical lines. His major work is the poem Orlando furioso (1516, published in 1532), an epic treatment of the Roland story, the perfect poetic expression of the Italian Renaissance.

Ariosto was born in Reggio, and joined the household of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este in 1503. He was frequently engaged in ambassadorial missions and diplomacy for the Duke of Ferrara, whose service he entered in 1518. He was governor of Garfagnana 1522–25, a province in the Apennines, where he was mostly occupied in suppressing bandits and enforcing order. After three years he retired to Ferrara to work on the final revision of Orlando furioso.

Ariosto's great work perfects and enriches the half satiric, fantastic, yet restrained manner which Boiardo had employed in his Orlando innamorato (1487). It is remarkable for the zest which he was able to sustain on such a huge scale. He also completed four comedies (La cassari/The Coffer (1508), I suppositi/The Pretenders (1519), La lena (1528), and Il negromante/The Necromancer (1529)), seven satires in the style of Horace, some Latin poems, a prose dialogue on the subject of hygiene, Rime (sonnets and other poems), and Cinque canti, five cantos withheld from Orlando furioso.