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Lodovico Ariosto. Orlando Furioso. Vinegia: In Casa de' Figlivoli Di Aldo, 1545.
Ariosto was a man of arms until 1500 when he abandoned his military career for writing. He was a personal friend of cardinal Bembo and produced numerous works in Latin and Italian. The Orlando Furioso transformed the traditional chivalric theme of the epic by introducing sentimental and ironic elements. Orlando Furioso was conceived as a sequel to Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato. It was first published in 40 cantos in Ferrara (1516), and later expanded into 46 cantos in the definitive edition prepared by the author and published in 1532. This epic has three main themes: the romance of Orlando and Angelica, the war between Christians and Muslims near Paris and the complicated love affair between Roggero and Bradamante. This edition, by the heirs of Aldo Manutio, also contains five additional poems by Ariosto.
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