Periods spent in Naples

“Everyone gives me hope that Our Lord will be liberal in the grace shown towards me” (translated from T. Tasso, Le lettere, edited by C. Guasti, 5 vols, Florence, Le Monnier, vol. IV, 291). Formulated in the final weeks of 1587, Tasso’s hopes were set on Sixtus V, but went without any material support. For this reason, afflicted by indecision as was typical of his later years, in 1588 Tasso decided to move to Naples and try to regain the inheritance left to him by his mother, discovering a legal battle which had dragged on for many years. In Naples, enjoying the patronage of Matteo di Capua and Giovan Battista Manso, Tasso attracted the attention and admiration of the literary circles of the time, including G. B. Attendolo, C. Pellegrini, T. Costo, A. Pignatelli, and Manso himself. Testimony to Tasso’s condition is provided by this letter of 1 July 1588: “Mr Tasso is in Naples, well received and appreciated by all but unwilling to rely upon any man; he recites from two hundred stanzas to be added to the cantos of his Gerusalemme” (translated from A. Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, 3 vols, Turin-Rome, Loescher, 1895, vol. II, 314). With the revision of his epic poem and the ongoing work on his lyric poetry and dialogues, Tasso had a profound effect on Neapolitan culture, influencing the early output of Marino, with whom he had dealings in connection with the printing of one of his dialogues. Although he returned to Rome in November 1588, Tasso went back to Naples on two further occasions, in 1592 as a guest of Matteo di Capua, and in 1594, when he stayed with the monks at the monastery of San Severino (a poem entitled Della vita di San Benedetto was started at this time, but left unfinished after seven octave stanzas) and attended to the printing of Discorsi del poema eroico.