Renaissance writer came back to Sorrento later in life
Torquato Tasso, who has come to be regarded as the greatest Italian poet of the Renaissance, was born in 1544 in Sorrento.
Tasso’s most famous work was his epic
poem Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) in which he gives an
imaginative account of the battles between Christians and Muslims at the end of
the first crusade during the siege of Jerusalem.
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| Part of Imperial Hotel Tramontano was Tasso's birthplace |
The house where Tasso was born on 11
March, 1544 is in Sorrento’s historic centre, a few streets away from the main
square in Via Vittorio Veneto.
The remains of the villa, which was
built on the edge of a cliff, now form part of the Imperial Hotel Tramontano.
A plaque on the back wall of the
hotel quotes words written by Tasso’s father, Bernardo Tasso, who was also a
poet.
Torquato Tasso lived in the villa
until 1552 when his father was exiled from Sorrento along with his employer,
Prince Ferrante Sanseverino, after they were both accused of being rebels.
Part of the original house where
Tasso was born fell into the sea in 1662. Only a room with two arches and
balconies overlooking the sea remain. In the 17th century a villa was built
incorporating the remains and this eventually became the Imperial Hotel
Tramontano, which was opened in 1812.
Tasso’s father, Bernardo, went on to
become resident poet at the Ducal Palace in Urbino, enabling his son to study
alongside Francesco Maria della Rovere, the heir to the Duke. Tasso was later
sent to study law in Padua but he chose to write poetry instead.
Tasso spent years in Ferrara living
at the Castle owned by the Este family, where he fell in love with a lady in
waiting and wrote love sonnets to her.
He suffered as a result of the
jealous behaviour of the other courtiers and this led to him developing a
persecution mania and fearing he was going to be poisoned. He also believed he
was going to be denounced by the Inquisition.
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| House of Cornelia Tasso |
He went to visit his only sister,
Cornelia, in her house in the historic centre of Sorrento, situated between the
main street and the sea.
You can still see Cornelia’s house, tucked away in a narrow street, Via San Nicola, at number 11. It became known as the Sersale house because Cornelia had married Marzio Sersale in 1558.
Cornelia continued to live in the
house with her sons Antonino and Alessandro after she became a widow.
The house can be identified by a
pretty little balcony on the front, which is supported by decorative stonework.
It is said that Tasso arrived at
Cornelia’s house and pretended to be a messenger who had come to inform her of
her brother’s death.
Tasso is believed to have been trying
to test Cornelia’s loyalty to him, but her shock and distress on receiving the
news was enough to reassure him that she could be trusted.
Despite enjoying happy months with
his sister in Sorrento, Tasso found that he missed the court at Ferrara and
wrote humbly to the Duke asking if he could come back.
But he continued to be unwell on his
return to Ferrara and his erratic conduct eventually led to him being confined
in the madhouse of Sant’Anna.
Although Tasso was to enjoy some
freedom and was able to travel around Italy again in the last few years of his
life, his health started to decline. Tasso died in Rome in 1595 when he was
just about to be crowned poet laureate by Pope Clement VIII. He was 51 years of
age.
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| Statue of poet in Piazza Tasso. |
Sorrento’s main square, Piazza Tasso
was later named after the poet and there is a statue of him there.
Piazza Tasso is the hub of Sorrento, in the middle of the main shopping street, Corso Italia, and looking out 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 the carriages that can be hired for sightseeing.
Tasso’s statue is set in a pretty
little garden opposite Bar Ercolano.
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