In October 1570 Tasso embarked upon a journey to France, leaving before Cardinal Luigi d’Este. Before his departure, however, he left a “literary testament” providing a detailed account of his writings and the friends and masters appointed as responsible for dealing with his works (T. Tasso, Le lettere, edited by C. Guasti, 5 vols, Florence, Le Monnier, 1852-55, vol. I, 22-24). After arriving in Paris in November, in the few weeks spent at court Tasso made acquaintance, although by indirect means, with at least some of the French literary figures of the day, the tradition of the poets of the Pléiade and Ronsard’s poetry, which he was to recall in later years in one of his dialogues, Il Cataneo overo de gli idoli is mentioned also in his Apologia in defence of the Liberata. In connection with this journey, Tasso wrote a long letter to Ercole de’ Contrari, probably after returning to Italy, in which he compares the features of the land, cities and customs of France to those of Italy. The letter is interesting more for its observational skills and its curious topics than for its actual investigation into the French context, for the description of which Tasso often resorted to literary sources. Although Luigi d’Este arrived in Paris only in June, in March Tasso was permitted to return to Ferrara. Both his trip to France and its abrupt ending marked the start of Tasso’s detachment from the Cardinal’s court. In the months that followed, with trips to Rome and Urbino, Tasso sought a new position, which led, at the beginning of 1572, to his entering the service of Duke Alfonso II, also in Ferrara. In this financially rewarding position Tasso’s responsibility was to bring his poem about Goffredo to completion, consecrating it to the Este dynasty.

Testament signed by Tasso prior to his journey to France, Ferrara, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea