Episodi della fortuna europea di Torquato Tasso

This paper highlights the importance of the work of Torquato Tasso for European culture by means of an analysis of some significant moments of his legacy, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After a brief investigation of the musical theatre, we will focus on the link between Tasso’s works and those of Rousseau, Goethe and Goldoni. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the poet of the “arme pietose” became a symbol of Romanticism, as demonstrated by the numerous works (often fictionalized) that were inspired by his person. Our essay ends with an analysis of the presence of Tasso in Manzoni, especially considering the parody of canto XVI of Jerusalem Delivered, written by the Milanese author with his friend Ermes Visconti: Manzoni’s reflection (including the one on Tasso’s poetry) seems to find its perfect place within the European cultural landscape.