Tales of Love, Cleverness, and Violence in Tomaso Costo’s "Fuggilozio" (1596)

This selection from Tomaso Costo’s Fuggilozio (The Cure for Indolence, 1596) translates entertaining, dramatic, or witty examples of the over four hundred stories and anecdotes of the original. Together, they offer an engaging window into the lively culture and society of Naples and Italy generally. Though the story-tellers are all from the city’s elite, the characters in the stories they tell run the social and professional gamut, from peasants to emperors, and the variety and brevity of the tales offers something for all readers who can smile at human foibles, silliness, and naughtiness, and admire cleverness and guile. Costo, in spite of his introductory claim that the book is meant to guide its audience to virtue and away from vice, also at times indulges in blunt innuendos and jokes that can still surprise us today.