author

Carlo Goldoni

1707–1793

A sharp-eyed Venetian dramatist, he helped turn Italian comedy away from stock masks and toward recognizable people with real feelings, flaws, and social ambitions. His lively plays still feel fresh because they are funny, observant, and full of everyday human behavior.

1 Audiobook

The Comedies of Carlo Goldoni edited with an introduction by Helen Zimmern

The Comedies of Carlo Goldoni edited with an introduction by Helen Zimmern

by Carlo Goldoni

About the author

Born in Venice on February 25, 1707, Carlo Goldoni became one of Italy’s most important playwrights and librettists. Britannica describes him as a prolific dramatist who reshaped the long tradition of commedia dell’arte, moving it away from improvised routines and masked stock types toward more realistic characters and stronger plots.

Goldoni also trained in law, but the theater drew him in more strongly. Over the course of his career he wrote a large number of comedies and stage works, and he became especially admired for capturing the rhythms of ordinary life in Venice with warmth, wit, and a clear eye for social detail.

Late in life he moved to Paris, where he died on February 6, 1793. His reputation has lasted because his plays helped lay the groundwork for modern comedy: they are entertaining on the surface, but they also reveal how people talk, scheme, love, and misunderstand one another.