author
Niccolò Forteguerri
1674–1735
An Italian priest and poet from Pistoia, he is best remembered for the witty mock-heroic poem Ricciardetto. His writing mixes playful satire with a strong feel for the literary world of early eighteenth-century Italy.
2 Audiobooks
Il Ricciardetto, vol. II
by Niccolò Forteguerri
Il Ricciardetto, vol. I
by Niccolò Forteguerri
About the author
Born in Pistoia on November 6, 1674, Niccolò Forteguerri came from a noble Tuscan family and was directed toward the Church from a young age. He became a priest, but he also built a reputation in literary circles, where his learning and sharp sense of humor stood out.
Forteguerri is best known for Ricciardetto, a comic-heroic poem that playfully reworks the world of chivalric romance. Writing under the pseudonym Niccolò Carteromaco, he turned heroic material into something lively, ironic, and entertaining, and the poem became the work most closely tied to his name.
He died in 1735. Today he is remembered less as a churchman than as a gifted satirical poet whose work captures both the elegance and the mischievous spirit of Italian literary culture in his time.