Early education

As a child, Torquato studied first at home, with private tutors, and then at the Jesuit school in Naples. After moving to Rome, he continued his studies in the company of his cousin Cristoforo Tasso, of the Bergamo branch of the family. In February 1556, while he was in Rome with his father, his mother, Porzia de’ Rossi, died suddenly in Sorrento, which marked with deep suffering his already difficult and unstable childhood. When Bernardo left Rome, the young Torquato was sent to Bergamo, where he met Giovan Girolamo Albani, appointed cardinal shortly afterwards, and especially Alabni’s secretary,Maurizio Cataneo, who was to become one of Tasso’s closest friends as an adult. Tasso’s education took place at all these various centres, followed by an important move to the Della Rovere household. Throughout, he proved to be an extraordinarily precocious student, particularly as regards classical and modern literature, in circles where Bernard was held in high esteem and which regarded favourably the young Torquato’s evolution.