Calandrino to Calandro. Variations on the theme of mockery

Abstract

Of all the Renaissance comedies inspired by the works of Boccaccio, La Calandria by Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena is a particularly interesting example. The first cause for interest is that Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena, in the Cortegiano by Baldassar Castiglione, explains what a witticism is and what its proper use in court should be, using the Decameron as an example. We know that La Calandria and the Cortegiano are also linked by other elements. There is Urbino, for example, which is a common scene for both the text and the theatrical representation. The city is in fact the frame for Cortegiano as well as the place at which La Calandria was first staged in 1513. It can therefore be said that the Decameron, the Cortegiano and La Calandria are idealistically connected to one another, and Bibbiena can thus be considered a common thread connecting all three works.