FERRARI, PAOLO. — Playwright, b. in Milan on 5 Apr. 1822, d. in Milan on 9 Mar. 1899. He was the first in Italy to recognize the need for a dramatic art attentive to moral issues, giving his finest demonstration in *Cause ed effetti* (1871), where the institution of the family, already extolled in *Prosa* (1858) against Romantic excesses, was defended against materialism that viewed marriage as a mere contract of property.
Generally, however, ethical inspiration remained merely intentional in Ferrari, who not infrequently brought to the surface the prejudices and conventionalisms of contemporary bourgeois society. Thus in *Duello* (1868) he argues that this practice, theoretically condemnable, in practice proves useful; in *Ridicola* (1872) he suggests that the fear of being mocked makes the famous cautious in choosing a wife and the husband vigilant in safeguarding domestic honor. Artistically accomplished are the historical comedies *Goldoni* and *Parini*. In the rest of his work, Ferrari fails to fully document the life of his time; more than a creator, he is often a re-elaborator of themes from French theatre.