Chapter Una questione di costanza. Ferrante Pallavicino nel Don Gastone di Moncada di Giacinto Andrea Cicognini

Overview & Synopsis

The essay proposes a reading of Cicognini's Don Gastone di Moncada as a comedy on the virtues of Fidelity and Constancy. The character of D. Merichex and his soliloquy in II.9 is written by drawing on theological references; the eloquence of D. Violante is written in dialogue with the literal quotation of a censored novel by Ferrante Pallavicino, La Pudicizia schernita (1638), a book that rewrites a Bandello’s novel and that’s inscribed in the fortune of the Lucrezia Romana episode, the interest of which is retraced by the Accademia degli Incogniti. The quotation of extensive passages from the novel compared with the two printed versions of Cicognini's play opens up new possibilities for investigating the writing and stage life of this famous text.