“Il più bel fior”: Interweaving Genres in Boiardo’s “Orlando Innamorato” and Moderata Fonte’s “Floridoro”

Abstract

This article investigates specific textual evidence of Boiardan influence in Moderata Fonte’s I tredici canti del Floridoro (1531). The first part of the article focuses on Fonte’s direct allusions to the Innamorato during the moments in which she emphasizes the interplay between epic and romance, while the second considers Boiardo’s references to historical events to bolster Ferrara’s political prestige, and the ways in which Fonte revises his history in order to do the same for Venice.

Keywords

• boiardo
• moderata fonte
• rewriting