Vittorio Alfieri

Born in Asti in 1749 and dead in Florence in 1803, Vittorio Alfieri was an Italian dramatist and poet often described as the founder of Italian tragedy. He wrote nineteen tragedies along with sonnets, satires, translations from Latin and Greek, and a well-known autobiography.

His work is especially remembered for its hatred of tyranny. Alfieri wanted Italian drama to stand beside that of the rest of Europe, and Britannica notes that his tragedies aimed to give Italy a serious national theater. His success with Cleopatra in 1775 marked an important breakthrough for Italian tragedy.

Alfieri's writing also carried strong patriotic energy. Later readers saw him as a precursor of the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian national revival, and his intense, driven personality helped make him feel like a bridge between the Enlightenment and the coming Romantic age.