GIRALDI, GIOVAMBATTISTA CINZIO. - Man of letters, b. at Ferrara in 1504, d. there in 1573. His work is under the influence of the Catholic Reformation.
Forebodings of Romanticism have been detected in his tragedies, among which the notable Orbecche, performed in 1541. Besides a pastoral drama (Egle) and several eclogues, he composed the unfinished poem Ercole (Modena 1557), celebrating the exploits of Ercole II d'Este. His major work is the Ecatommiti (Mondovì 1565), tales inspired by Boccaccio (113, divided into ten decades and an introduction), narrated by a company of friends travelling from Civitavecchia to Marseilles. Shakespeare drew the subject of Othello from the 7th tale of the 3rd decade.
BIBL.: G. Perale, Sul valore morale degli «Ecatommiti» di G. B. G., Prato 1907; R. Piccioni, Vita di G. B. G., in Atti e memorie delle deput. ferr. di st. patria, 18 (1908), pp. 113-231; G. Guerrieri-Crocetti, G. B. G. e il pensiero critico del sec. XVI, Milano 1932; A. Chiara, La fortuna del Boccecio, in Questioni e correnti di st. lett., edited by A. Momigliano, ibid. 1949, p. 327 ff. Italiano Marchetti