Birth of famous Sorrento poet

Piazza Tasso

Torquato Tasso, who has come to be regarded as the greatest Italian poet of the Renaissance, was born 468 years ago today in Sorrento.
Although Tasso travelled all over Italy during his life, Sorrento’s main square has been named after him. Piazza Tasso is right at the hub of Sorrento , in the middle of the main shopping street, Corso Italia, and looking over Marina Piccola, Sorrento’s port.
Surrounded by bars and restaurants, the square has stops for the local buses and a taxi rank. It is also the resting place for the horses that pull carriages that can be hired for sightseeing.
Tasso’s most famous work was his epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) in which he gives an imaginative version of the battles between Christians and Muslims at the end of the first crusade during the siege of Jerusalem. His poetry was later to prove inspirational for other writers who followed him, in particular Spencer and Byron.
The house where Tasso was born on 11 March, 1544 is a few streets away from Piazza Tasso in Via Vittorio Veneto and now forms part of the Imperial Hotel Tramontano, where the beautiful song Torna a Surriento was composed by De Curtis on the terrace.
Tasso travelled about in Italy constantly during his 51 years but came back to Sorrento towards the end of his life to visit his beloved sister Cornelia, at a time when he was in deep trouble.
Because of its location in pretty gardens and overlooking the bay of Naples, it is not surprising that the Imperial Hotel Tramontano has provided inspiration for other famous writers who have stayed there.
It is believed Milton and Goethe once visited the historic building and, more recently, the hotel has accommodated American writers James Fennimore Cooper and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is thought to have written Ghosts while enjoying a long stay at the Imperial Hotel Tramontano in the mid 19th century.

Home