3 h 25 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a change of clothes could open a closed door—and turn desire into a dangerous game?
La Cintia is a stage comedy by Giambattista della Porta, a scholar and playwright from Naples. It belongs to the learned Italian comedy of the Renaissance, with roots in the Roman plays of Plautus and Terence. Enter a theatrical world shaped by quick talk, tangled households and clever tricks, where disguise and hidden identity keep a plot moving.
Love, family and appearances pull against one another in this comic tradition. Young people desire each other, while parents, money and social rank stand in their way. A borrowed identity can win trust or bring a secret within reach. Read with an ear for timing: a pause or a line at the wrong moment can carry the joke.
What you’ll discover
- Disguise with a purpose Explore a comic tradition where different clothes can offer access, trust and the chance to overhear.
- Love meets resistance Discover how desire collides with parents, money and rank in Renaissance comedy.
- Roman roots, Renaissance wit Meet a theatrical tradition that draws on tight plots and familiar comic figures.
- Dialogue that moves Follow the quick talk and listen for pauses that help a joke land.
- Schemes and hidden identities Enter a world where clever tricks and mistaken people give comedy its momentum.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy theatre, Italian literature and plots full of schemes and mistaken identities, with quick talk, clever servants and tangled households.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A comedy built on Roman foundations
- Disguise sets the plot in motion
- Desire and family pull against each other
- How to read or hear it today
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- 15-minute summary
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- Large print hardcover
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La Cintia
Masks and mistakes pull a Neapolitan household into comic trouble as desire and family wishes collide.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A comedy built on Roman foundations
Italian writers of the sixteenth century looked back to the Roman comic playwrights Plautus and Terence. They admired the tight plots, the stock figures and the happy endings of those ancient plays. They copied the form but set the action in the streets and houses of their own Italian cities.
This style is often called learned comedy, because its authors were educated men who knew the classical rules. The plays were written in prose, in the speech of ordinary townspeople. They were staged in courts, academies and private halls as well as in public squares.
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Who was Giambattista della Porta?
He was a scholar and writer from Naples who died in 1615. He wrote on natural magic, optics and physiognomy, and he also produced many stage comedies that were performed and printed in his time.
What kind of play is La Cintia?
It is a Renaissance comedy in the Italian learned tradition. Such plays were written in prose, followed Roman models like Plautus and Terence, and were built on love, deception and quick-witted servants.
When was La Cintia written?
It comes from the late Renaissance, when della Porta was writing for the Neapolitan stage. It is a work of fiction for the theatre, not a true story, and it belongs to the years around 1600.
The author
Giambattista della Porta
1535–1615 · Italian scholar and dramatist
Italian alchemist and dramatist.
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