Il Decameron in scena: riusi delle novelle di Boccaccio nelle commedie del Cinquecento fra Padova, Mantova e Venezia

Abstract

The thesis aims to analyze the influnce of Boccaccio’s Decameron in the sixteenth-century comic theatre of northern Italy, with an intertextual approach but also paying attention to the possible blending of different literary genres. In fact, theatrical production shares numerous featureswith literary production in its strict sense, from the function to convey stories. Within italian dramatic production, there are several cases of reworking and adaption of pre-existing material derived from narrative tradition. At the same time, the presence of performative aspects and the use of theatrical devices in literary works allow for reflection on the practise of blending different codes. Italian modern comic theatre develops from the great legacy of Plauto and Terenzio, also drawing on the more recent vernacular literary production, which contributes to enrich and renew classical sources. In vernacular literary landscape, Decameron occupies a prominent role for Renaissance playwrights, who regard it as an inexhaustible repertoire of comic and erotic motifs to be brought to the stage. Decameron was employed by sixteenth-century playwrights in different ways: plot adaptations, starting points for the creation of characters, reuse of stylistic elements and situations, as well as echoes or explicit mentions of Boccaccian episodes and figures. An overall assessment of italian comic production in the sixteenth century highlights a phenomenon of scenic reconversion of Boccaccio’s tales, realized in all the main theatrical centers of the time. Having regard to the polycentric nature of sixteenth-century Italy, attention has been focused on the padano-venetian area – in particular on the centers of Padova, Mantova and Venezia –, exploring boccaccian borrowings in the pièces of Nicola Grasso, Ruzante, Lodovico Dolce, Gigio Artemio Giancarli, Andrea Calmo, Girolamo Parabosco and Marin Negro. This choise allowed to outline Decameron’s pervasiveness in a geographical area marked by the flourishing of dialectal and polyglot theatre, offering an opportunity to consider how Centonovelle was received by writers in dialect. In this way, it has been possible to focus on texts that, in relation to their tie with Boccaccio, have received less attention compared to pièces from other geographical centers (such as Firenze, Siena, Ferrara or Roma) which have been the subject of several studies. Within the broader phenomenon of Decameron’s theatrical reconversion recorded in the whole Italy during the sixteenth century, the breadth of boccaccian adaptations in the padano-venetian area is an evidence of the great fortune reached by Boccaccio’s masterpiece in the sixteenth century throughout society.