Giovanbattista Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto’s first son, was born sometime between the end of 1502 and the beginning of 1503,  of a certain Maria, in all probability the same maidservant of the Ariosto family mentioned as a beneficiary in the wills of Niccolò Ariosto of 1492 and 1500. Ludovico had brought this no longer young woman with him, so that she could look after him in Canossa. And it was indeed whilst he was commander of the fortress of Canossa that Giovanbattista was conceived, even if in several occasions  Ludovico denied being the father and questioned his maidservant Maria’s word. It would seem that the poet did not particularly love Giovanbattista, given that he only recognised him as his natural offspring, and what is more very late on, in his will of 1533. Completely dedicated to his favourite Virginio, the poet perhaps managed to recover a relationship with his firstborn late in life, if it is true that, he being by that time ill, it was indeed Giovanbattista who cashed the first two annuities of his father’s pension, that Marquis Alfonso d’Avalos had munificently bestowed upon the poet. Giovanbattista was in any case the beneficiary of some ecclesiastical income that allowed him to live in ample comfort. He was only legitimised after his father’s death, in 1538, by Cardinal Campeggi thanks to the insistence of his uncles Galasso and Alessandro, probably because there were contrasts with Virginio, with whom the uncles had a relationship of conflict. But Virginio, the poet’s favourite, in time showed himself to be understanding and generous toward Giovanbattista to whom he conceded, in 1542, half of the buildings and the animals owned by the family as well as the copies of the Furioso deposited with the bookshops in Bologna, Mantua and Modena.