<< 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 >>        The main character of Aurelia is a perfect courtier in many aspects similar to that described by Castiglione in his Courtier, this book was very famous in Europe and was quite a handbook to became a perfect Courtie.        The Palace in which the scene takes place is very elegant and resembles other important palaces of Italian literary of the time. In the book many towns and monuments are quoted such as the Library of the Medici in Florence; the villa of Tivoli; the Lateranian Gallery of the maps of the world collected by the Pope. Whetstone quotes also the Cathedral of Loreto and its famous chapel and Recanati, near Loreto.        He quotes other towns such as Naples, Rome, Ravenna and Venice.       He writes about Naples, in particular. He says that he doesn’t admire Naples and Neapolitans and doesn’t want to remember the insults suffered in that city. The Neapolitan character of the book is Dondolo: ironic and ambiguous man. Also a character of a tale is from Capoverdo , near Naples and he is very vendicative. He doesn’t consider about the rest of the Italian people. In fact, he thinks that Italians are intelligent, wise, quick and sharp people. His Italian character is called Soranso.        There is also a minor character: a thief found in the kitchen who speaks well and is intelligent and ironic.       The Italian culture of the period emerges in particular in the Third Night with the Mountebanks’ performance and on the Fifth Night with Comedians.        The Italian Mountebanks look like English Pedlars but they don’t want to sell useless merchandise. The mountebanks has many serpents and vipers around his neck and control the stings of many kinds of insects.        He is with Zanni, who shows the art of his master.        Zanni was a real character of the Italian Commedia dell’Arte Zanni is the diminutive of Giovanni and he was the clown of the company.        On the fifth night, there is a performance that portrays the Italian theatre of the time. The Comedians who arrive at Court haven’t a script, a written text, but have standard parts and improvise on the stage.  << 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 >>