«Come un eroe di Metastasio». Agnizioni di lettura

The contribution brings together the elements useful to define the presence of Metastasio in Manzoni’s work; an argument that, especially in recent years, has lent itself to different assessments, also with regard to metric aspects. If Manzoni has reservations about the Caesarean poet, as is evident in the sermon "Sulla poesia" and in the only direct quote of his name in the novel (in chapter xxxvii don Ferrante goes to die as a hero of Metastasio, taking it with the stars), it is also true that the poet’s name recurs in the epistolary and in the treatise "Del romanzo storico", and that metastasian elements can be found in the poetic work, starting from the youthful «scherzo» on canto xvi of "Gerusalemme liberata", parodied in melodramatic forms.