- Time of past OR future Camino
- May 2023: Via Francigena, Lucca to Rome
I recently started reading Italo Calvino's guide to the 15th century epic poem Orlando Furioso, and came across a completely unexpected Camino de Santiago reference.
Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto, was based upon a series of older myths and legends about Charlemagne's paladins. According to Calvino, Venetian pilgrims on the Camino brought the stories back to Italy. There they were shared and embellished by other pilgrims heading to Rome. It is one of the major epic poems from medieval Italy.
In France the main stories focused on Roland's final battle and death at Roncesvalles (La Chanson de Roland). In Italy the stories were more expansive, and dealt with the various paladins' loves and battles across the known world, from China to the moon.
Interestingly, I have an English-language version that makes no mention at all that these were originally pilgrims' stories.
As for the story itself, so far there have been battles to win the hand of a pagan princess, two magic fountains (one fountain of love, and one fountain of hate), a couple powerful female warriors, and a flying hippogriff. And I'm only on the first section! It's set during the Saracen siege of Paris in the 8th century, so I don't think there will be any references to Santiago in the actual poem.
Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto, was based upon a series of older myths and legends about Charlemagne's paladins. According to Calvino, Venetian pilgrims on the Camino brought the stories back to Italy. There they were shared and embellished by other pilgrims heading to Rome. It is one of the major epic poems from medieval Italy.
In France the main stories focused on Roland's final battle and death at Roncesvalles (La Chanson de Roland). In Italy the stories were more expansive, and dealt with the various paladins' loves and battles across the known world, from China to the moon.
Interestingly, I have an English-language version that makes no mention at all that these were originally pilgrims' stories.
As for the story itself, so far there have been battles to win the hand of a pagan princess, two magic fountains (one fountain of love, and one fountain of hate), a couple powerful female warriors, and a flying hippogriff. And I'm only on the first section! It's set during the Saracen siege of Paris in the 8th century, so I don't think there will be any references to Santiago in the actual poem.