'Tradotti pur hora': Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano e la diffusione del romanzo cavalleresco spagnolo nell'italia della controriforma

Spanish Chivalric Romances are among the most admired and most influential literary products of the 16th century. The Italians are among the first to welcome them. Thanks to the well-established relationships between the two peninsulas, the adventures of Tirant lo blanch, Amadis de Gaula, Palmerin de Oliva, and all their descendants penetrate deeply into the Country that would produce Orlando Furioso and The Book of the Courtier.; The terrain is favorable to a profound and long-lasting influence. After a series of editions in Spanish, beginning in 1544, the sagas of Amadis and Palmerin are made available in their entirety in Italian by the Venetian publishers Francesco and Michele Tramezzino. It is the prolific (now utterly neglected) writer Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano who renders the Spanish heroes and all their offspring effectively Italianate. Not only does he make them speak the language of Boccaccio, but he also expands both series through the addition of several original continuations written entirely in Italian.; Roseo and his chivalric works are immensely popular in his times. His translations and continuations are continuously reissued and even translated into other languages. Yet, they irreparably sink into oblivion once the entire genre has lost its appeal to the Baroque tastes. The aim of the present study is to remove such an important production from the shadows and examine it in relation to the context that shaped and nurtured it. The editorial path of Spanish chivalric literature in Italy will be traced throughout and its production and reception explored in depth.; The analysis of the mechanisms that made it possible for Roseo to sustain his formidable task will constitute the core of the study. This entails a first attempt to reconstruct the writer's biography and picture his work habits, including his professional relationship with his publishers. While Roseo's approach to translation will be discussed in the light of the principal theories of his times, a series of excerpts from some of his main chivalric works will allow us to determine his successful strategies for reworking the Spanish originals and transforming them into Italian best sellers.