ROMEO AND JULIET RISING

Although a variant on the theme of Romeo and Juliet can be traced to the literatures of Greece and Rome, it received a unique and modern rendition with Masuccio Salernitano's thirdy-third short story, or, novella--novel, as defined in those days. It was amplified and modernized by Luigi da Porto with his Giulietta and Romeo, given its definitive form by Matteo Bandello, and immortalized by Shakespeare with its great masterpiece.
(...) Masuccio Salernitano, whose real name was Tommaso dei Guardati, was born either in Salerno or Sorrento around 1410 and died in Salerno about 1480, hence the appellative Salernitano.
The provincial capital city of Naples and most of Southern Italy were under the dominion of the Anjou-Valois branch of the French monarchy--a period considered stagnant culturally and politically.
In 1463, Masuccio was appointed secretary to Prince Roberto di Sanseverino of Salerno, a city south of Naples, one which was undergoing a cultural awakanenig in the humanistic tradition of the Renaissance.
(...) His Novellino is made up of fifty short stories (or possibly novelettes), all told or narrated in five days in units of ten. Each story develops a different theme, but all have elements of intense polemics and satire, often retributive against corrupt clergy and vituperatively anti feministic.