Torquato Tasso

Torquato Tasso was born in Sorrento in 1544. From his earliest age his family struggled with financial difficulties.

Step by step they got used to losing their money and they problems got worse when Torquato’s father went to exile. When Torquato was 12 he lost his mother and went to Rome to live with his father.

While he was young he started working on his first epic poem ‘’Gerusalemme’’ that was named ‘’Rinaldo’’ when it was finished.

1560 he went to Bologna and Padua to study law and philosophy. After that, in 1565, he went to Ferrara where he worked for cardinal d’Este. He wrote poems dedicated to the sisters of Alfonso II. Four years later his father died and he went to Paris with the cardinal. He met the French poet Pierre Ronsard there.

In 1573 he wrote ‘’Aminta’’ that was firstly performed in 1573, and published in 1581. In 1575 he finished ‘’Jerusalem Delivered’’, a work he started in Ferrara and that made him famous. After that he stayed in Rome where he worked on some mistakes in the epic poem that were pointed out to him by critics.

Because of the pressure and psychical problems he ended up in the hospital for a few years and there he also worked on his writing. After 7 years of hospitalization he lived with the prince of Mantova and then he finished his tragedy ‘’Galealto’’ that was later on renamed to ‘’Torrismondo’.

He went to Rome and Napoli where he worked on his poetry. Then he finished ‘’Monte Oliveto’’ and ‘’Le sette giornate del mondo creato’’.

1592 he went to Rome to stay with pope Clement VIII’s nephew and he dedicated him the newer version od ‘’Jerusalem Delivered’’.

Soon he wrote more poems such as ‘’ Stanze per le lagrime di Maria Vergine santissima e di Gies’’. He stayed some time in Napoli and then in 1594 he retired to Rome. A year later he died and still he is an inspiration because of his interesting life and his controversial work.