Carlo Gesualdo, principe di Venosa

Naples, 1590, Carlo Gesualdo killed his wife and lover caught in flagrant adultery. The process allows us to outline some marginal figures, such as the maids, one of whom testifies at the trial, together with the Prince’s cloakroom attendant: their half-truths more mendacious than lies” are aimed at strengthening the motive, safe conduct of the double murder. The prince of Venosa will also be at the center of another process: women who we usually find on the margins of history will intervene; figures who normally have their place in recent literary novels, willing to draw their protagonists from that marginal story brought to the light by Carlo Ginzburg in The cheese and the worms. The cosmos of a 16th century miller (1976, first Italian edition), through the inquisitorial archives, where it is possible to catch the voices of individuals who often do not appear, or appear only indirectly, in historical documentation: from farmers to women. These are secondary cases, micro-stories such as that of the Friulian miller Menocchio (we are in the 16th century) that can shed light on large problems (here is bet of the book): from the challenge to the authorities in a pre-industrial society to the intertwining of culture oral and written culture. But the purpose of this story-writing experiment was, and is, to bring Menocchio’s voice to the reader. It is these documented and marginal stories that offer new material to current novels. And in fact, the novel that won the 2019 Campiello Prize, Madrigal without sound: death of Carlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa by Andrea Tarabbia is dedicated to the story of Carlo Gesualdo.