Lodovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) was an Italian poet, author of Orlando Furioso. Born at Reggio Emilia, the son of an official of the Este dukes of Ferrara, he was forced by his father's death to support a large family and spent most of his life in Este service, as courtier and diplomat to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and then to Duke Alfonso, who sent him for three difficult years to govern the bandit-ridden province of the Garfagnana. Orlando Furioso, a continuation of Boiardo's romance, appeared in 1516 and in its final form in 1532. He also wrote comedies for the Ferrarese court, Latin verse and seven satires in the manner of Horace.