ARETINO

Speranza

From Harry E. Wedeck,
"Dictionary of Erotic Literature". New York: Philosophical Library.

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ARETINO, Pietro (1492-1556).
---- Italian humanist, called the 'divine'.
Author of sixteen "Sonetti Lussoriosi", published in 1523, that poetically and candidly commented on the painter Giulio Romano's series of erotic postures -- the "Figurae Veneris".
Aretino lived, largely at the expense of princelings and nobles, in fabulous lavishness, in Venezia.
Here he supported a HORDE of mistresses.
His life was so public in this respect that the women were known as "Aretines".
According to a popular legend, on one occasion he laughed SO BOISTEROUSLY that he fell under his chair, broke his neck, and died thereafter.
In additon to the "Sonetti Lussoriosi", Aretino produced "Caprices", usually known as "Dialogues".
These "Dialogues", pervaded by forthright erotic themes, have during the centuries been reprinted numerous times.
Both the "Dialogues" and the "Sonnets" appear in a French edition under the title "Académie des Dames".
There is an English edition of Aretino: "The Works of Pietro Aretino". Translated into English froom the original Italian by Samuel Putnam. New York: Covici-Friede, 1933.