Antonio Panizzi, Textual Editor of Ariosto

Today Antonio Panizzi is remembered mostly for his edition of Orlando innamorato, which restored Boiardo’s original text after a period of oblivion lasting nearly 300 years. His initial intention, however, was to publish an edition of Ariosto’s poem. But since he believed (as did Tasso before him) that the two poems formed a single, indivisible work, he came to realize that an edition of Ariosto’s work would not be complete without also incorporating that of his predecessor. As a result, his monumental edition – the only one of its kind – spans nine volumes published over four years (1830–4). Although ample attention has been given to the Boiardo side, the story of the Ariosto four-volume edition, which appeared in 1834, has never been told, and so the present study aims to fill this gap by chronicling its making and setting its achievement within the wider context of the Ariosto editorial tradition.