Sorrento

Torquato Tasso was born on 11 March 1544 in Sorrento, the son of Bernardo Tasso, who was originally from Bergamo and already famed for his poetry, and Porzia de’ Rossi, whose family was from Tuscany but she had settled in Campania. He was the third child, after his sister Cornelia and another son also named Torquato, who died a few months after his birth. At the time of his son’s birth, Bernardo was on a journey with Ferrante Sanseverino, returning to Sorrento only at the beginning of 1545. In the same year, the family moved to Salerno, transferring to Naples in 1548. These moves were due to Bernard’s difficult life in the service of Sanseverino (which was to lead to exile), but meant that Tasso did not form a close bond with his native town. Later on, in keeping also with his needs, he claimed that he had several different homelands:

“Non voglio vantarmi d’essere italiano, ma sono in guisa bergamasco che non ricuso d’esser Napolitano o sorrentino: e con tre patrie ho bisogno di molte cose...”

“I do not wish to claim that I am Italian, but I am Bergamasque in manner and do not deny that I am also Neapolitan and from Sorrento: and with three homelands I am in need of many things....” (translated from T. Tasso, Le lettere, edited by Cesare Guasti, 5 vols, Florence, Le Monnier, 1852-55, vol. IV, 167).

Veiled in irony, his claim signals his destiny as a wanderer, the continuous distancing that was to become a characteristic feature of his life.