Orlando Innamorato (The World's Classics)

Like Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Boiardo's chivalric verse tale, dating from the 1480s, first entertained the culturally innovative court of Ferrara. Inventive, humorous, inexhaustible, the story recounts Orlando's love-striken pursuit of Angelica through a fairyland that combines the military valours of Charlemagne's crusaders with the enchantments of King Arthur's court. This newly translated and abridged edition is the only one available, and it offers thorough annotation as well as an introduction and maps.