Floridoro: A Chivalric Romance

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Chicago Series

by Moderata Fonte, Valeria Finucci (Editor), Julia Kisacky (Translator)

The first original chivalric poem written by an Italian woman, Floridoro imbues a strong feminist ethos into a hypermasculine genre. Dotted with the usual characteristics—dark forests, illusory palaces, enchanted islands, seductive sorceresses —Floridoro is the story of the two greatest knights of a bygone the handsome Floridoro, who risks everything for love, and the beautiful Risamante, who helps women in distress while on a quest for her inheritance. Throughout, Moderata Fonte (1555–92) vehemently defends women’s capacity to rival male prowess in traditionally male-dominated spheres. And her open criticism of women’s lack of education is echoed in the plights of various female characters who must depend on unreliable men.

First published in 1581, Floridoro remains a vivacious and inventive narrative by a singular poet.

Genres: Poetry, Fantasy, 16th Century, Italy, Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1581

About the author

Moderata Fonte, pseudonym of Modesta Pozzo (1555-1592) was an Italian writer from Venice. Besides the posthumously-published dialogue, Il merito delle donne (The Worth of Women, 1600) for which she is best known, she wrote a romance and religious poetry.

Reviews

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see this genre from a woman's perspective for the first time. Some good twists like having the daughter of Circe, Circetta, being kind of mousey and not the bronze age femme fatale/fantasy woman her mother was.

The poem is deliberately following in the path of the Orlando Furioso and at times it does feel derivative. Its imagery is not as evocative and it often feels like the author is just following the formula. That said, it is just an unfinished poem from essentially an unschooled renaissance woman. I kept wondering what it would look like if Fonte had been able to polish and finish the poem, or even make it her life's work. Some of the characters are memorable, and I think it's clear she could have pulled it off if she had been allowed to keep working at it. A shame, really. There are some interesting innovations, often involving a switch to a feminine perspective. The femme fatale sorceress in the line of Circe and Alcina switches to a mousey Circetta (daughter of Odysseus and Circe) and the classical night raid scene (think Odysseus and Diomedes stumbling on Dolon, Nisus and Euryalus getting caught in the Aeneid, Medoro and Cloridano trying to retrieve their captain's corpse in the Orlando Furioso) is repurposed to involve a near rape to explain the inherent dangers of being a woman.

[idiomatic · Rating 4 out of 5]

tbh it's three and a half stars as a reading experience but i'm rounding up for CIRCE'S DAUGHTER, CIRCETTA, WHO IS A GREAT PERSON JUST LIKE HER MOM. what kind of fic.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen cantos is not enough! "Floridoro" needs its own (female version of) Ariosto to come along and finish/extend the story. Fonte's tale gives us a great jumping off point for a bunch more adventures that, sadly, remain untackled. Couldn't you at least have told us if anyone got turned into a tree?

[Lulu]

1581