Padua

Perceiving his son as a promising and precocious young man, but in a precarious financial situation, Bernardo decided to provide him with a “secure” background, such as that offered by studying law at the University of Padua. Torquato settled there in the autumn of 1560, but after his first year of courses he began to develop his literary vocation, producing first the Gierusalemme, followed by the Rinaldo, and thereby obtaining his father’s consent to switch to literary studies. He thus began attending Francesco Piccolomini’s philosophy courses and Carlo Sigonio’s courses in eloquence. The latter was the author of De dialogo liber, influential in Tasso’s later output of philosophical dialogues. In addition to his formal education, Torquato was catapulted into the midst of the literary debate of the mid-sixteenth century via the discussions that took place at the home of Sperone Speroni. For a long time he was a guide for Tasso, who was producing his first lyrical poems and simultaneously taking his first steps in debates on poetics. This was the context in which, also in this early period in Padua, he developed the ideas for his Discorsi dell’arte poetica, which were fundamental in the subsequent drafts of Gerusalemme liberata. After a period of time spent in Bologna, Tasso returned to Padua in January 1564. Here, invited by Scipione Gonzaga, he immediately entered the Accademia degli Eterei (Academy of the Ethereals). Without obtaining his degree, but with a literary curriculum of note and his apprenticeship completed, Tasso left Padua for Ferrara in October 1565, for the court of Luigi d’Este.