The commissioner for Garfagnana

Ariosto took up the post of Ducal Commissioner for Garfagnana on 20 February 1522 and held it till June 1525, in a period in which the Court of Ferrara was no longer able to pay him as a courtier. Ludovico had his headquarters at Castelnuovo, in the fortress today called Rocca Ariostea, in the southern tower, from which he could admire the view of the valleys below.  The area of Garfagnana, which had reached the end of conflict between Lucca and Florence (allied with the Pope) in a state of total exhaustion, was in a sad state when the poet took up his new post. For the purpose of maintaining order and having his instructions obeyed Ludovico had a mere twelve crossbowmen, captain included, to whom he paid their monthly wages personally. These were quite insufficient means with which to perform the tough task of restoring law and order in a land infested by brigands. Whilst Ludovico embarked upon a hard repression campaign against the lawless bands, the Duke of Ferrara showed himself more reconciliatory, often creating the poet serious problems, as can be seen in correspondence. Ludovico’s sense of isolation was made all the worse by the behaviour of the common clergy, incapable of sticking to a coherent moral code of conduct. Ariosto’s level of exasperation was such that he in some letters proposed the destruction of churches and parishes by way of example. From a political point of view the Commissioner had to juggle between factions loyal to the House of Este, led by the counts Sandoninno, and factions close to the Florentines and the Pope, led by the counts Maddalena. The conflict ended with victory for the former over the latter, but Ariosto’s military initiatives were almost insignificant given the modest military forces that Ferrara had conceded him. In those years Ludovico, also busy trying to educate his son Virginio, diminished his literary activity but earned himself a reputation as an esteemed and admired man of government, capable of reconciling a sense of humanity with rigour and equilibrium.