In Praise of Ziralda

Artisan: Cose di un altro mondo (Mariangela Gagliardi)
Date: 2022
Dimensions: 27 x 19 x 5 mm. / 1 ⅛ x ¾ x ¼ inches (height x width x depth)
Inventory number: 2022.233
Intended Room: Library
Category: Books

This is one of a set of ten solid books which we ordered from Mariangela Gagliardi at the same time, chosen primarily on their aesthetic qualities, as the titles on the spines are so tiny we couldn’t read them on the computer screen. It’s been rather fun finding out which volumes we’ve ended up with.

This curious book, with its very early binding and rather verbose title, is a treatise on dance – specifically, a work in praise of the Padua dancer Ziralda, by the author Giacomo Morello. The full title is Le lalde, e le sbampvorie, della vnica e virtvliosa Ziralda: ballerina e saltarina scaltrietta Pauana, which seems to translate as something along the lines of ‘The attitudes and comic performances of the unique and most virtuous Ziralda, dancer and shrewd little acrobat of Padua’ (although I’m sure someone will be able to improve on that for me). It was published in Venice in 1553, and I’ve seen it described as a ‘burlesque’ in Paduan dialect, so the Quartermaines’ language skills must be considerably better than I’d anticipated!

(There is an essay on Ziralda by Patrizia La Rocca in La danza a Venezia nel Rinascimento, published by the Cini Foundation, if anyone is moved to do some further research.)