Orsolina Sassomarino

Orsolina or Ursolina Sassomarino was the Ariosto family’s maid from whom, as he himself admitted, Ludovico had his second son Virginio, born in 1509, and who probably lived with his mother till 1514. Orsolina was the daughter of the nail maker Giovanni Sassomarino, from Modena, and Agnese Merlo. She had a sister called Giovanna. The Sassomarino family wasn’t of peasant origin, as has been thought, nor was it of noble origin. It was simply a working class family. Orsolina lived in the contrada of San Gregorio in Ferrara, near Ludovico’s father’s house, and it is indeed this nearness that would seem to have favoured their relationship. The affair between Ariosto and Orsolina lasted some five years, from 1508 to 1513, when the encounter with Alessandra Benucci pushed the poet towards a more intense and fascinating love affair. Ludovico decide to marry Orsolina off to one of his farmers, a certain Antonio Manfredin known as Malagigi or Malacise, by way of recompense for her fidelity. On 11 February 1514 Ariosto officially approved the bride’s dowry  in view of the marriage. Ludovico obliged Orsolina’s future father in law, Ludovico Manfredin, to pay him the sum of six hundred lire. Three months after the wedding, true to his word, the poet bought his ex mistress a house in the contrada S. Michele. The relationship between the poet and Orsolina continued also after the end of their affair but on a completely different basis. The bygone familiarity became daily contact but only of a domestic and administrative nature, as well as for matters concerning their son Virginio. Orsolina, of sweet disposition, was a trustworthy servant, faithful and always available. Despite being the mother of the poet’s favourite son, Orsolina’s role in Ariosto’s life remained somewhat in the background, even though she did not have the minimal role assigned to the maidservant Maria from whom Ludovico had had his first son, Giovanbattsita.