The crisis of the Italian courts

Tasso lived for over thirty years at the Italian courts, from Urbino in the late 1550s to the papal court in Rome in the early 1590s. It was a period of decline, not only in terms of political significance, already fading since the early part of the sixteenth century, but also in its ideals. The young Tasso’s studies at the Urbino Court may have impressed upon him a courtly grandeur reminiscent of Castiglione’s time, but his long stay at the Este Court at Ferrara included his initial golden years, the long controversy between the Este family and the Medici over “precedence” - an issue related to princely hierarchy (in a dialogues on the topic, Tasso sided with the Ferrara dukes) - and above all the question of succession to Duke Alfonso II that substantially determined the latter years of the Este Court but remained unresolved, leading to the devolution of 1597. Tasso witnessed the early years of the duchy of the enterprising Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, and above all enjoyed the generosity of Vincenzo Gonzaga, prince and later Duke of Mantua, choosing Rome and the changeable papal court during his last years, as suited the solemn and religious orientation of his last work, including the Mondo creato.