Angelo Beolco detto il Ruzante by Amleto Sartori, 1958
Piazzetta Lucia Valentini Terrani
Padua, May 2025
“Angelo Beolco (c. 1496 – March 17, 1542), better known by the nickname Ruzzante or Ruzante, was a Venetian (Paduan) actor and playwright. He is famous for his rustic comedies, written mostly in the Paduan variety of the Venetian language, featuring a peasant called ‘Ruzzante’. Those plays paint a vivid picture of Paduan country life in the 16th century. Born in Padua, Beolco was the illegitimate son of Giovan Francesco Beolco, a physician who occasionally worked at the University, and a certain Maria, possibly a maid. (It has been suggested, however, that his real name was Ruzzante, and that Beolco was a local corruption of bifolco, meaning ‘ploughman’ — by extension, ‘country simpleton’.) Some claim that he was born in Pernumia, a small town near Padua. Angelo was raised in his father's household and there he received a good education. After Giovan Francesco's death in 1524, Angelo became manager of the family's estate, and later (1529) also of the farm of Alvise Cornaro, a nobleman who had retired to the Paduan countryside and who became his friend and protector. He developed his theatrical vocation by associating with contemporary Padua intellectuals, such as Pietro Bembo and Sperone Speroni. His first stints as an author and actor may have been mariazi, impromptu sketches delivered at marriage parties. In 1520, already known as il Ruzzante, he played a role in a peasant play at the Foscari Palace in Venice. Soon afterwards he put together his own theater troupe. His plays were staged first at Ferrara (1529–1532) and then at Padua, in Cornaro's residence. He died in Padua in 1542, while preparing to stage Speroni's play Canace, for the Accademia degli Infiammati. In spite of his success as an actor, he was very poor through most of his life. His friend Speroni remarked that while Angelo had unsurpassed understanding of comedy, he was unable to perceive his own tragedy.” (Angelo Beolco, Wikipedia)
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