This is the first comprehensive book on the Arthurian legend in medieval and Renaissance Italy since Edmund Gardner's 1930 The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. Arthurian material reached all levels of Italian society, from princely courts with their luxury books and frescoed palaces, to the merchant classes and even popular audiences in the piazza, which enjoyed shorter retellings in verse and prose. Unique assemblages emerge on Italian soil, such as the Compilation of Rustichello da Pisa or the innovative Tavola Ritonda, in versions made for both Tuscany and the Po Valley. Chapters examine the transmission of the French romances across Italy; reworkings in various Italian regional dialects; the textual relations of the prose Tristan; narrative structures employed by Italian writers; later ottava rima poetic versions in the new medium of printed books; the Arthurian-themed art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; and more. The Arthur of the Italians offers a rich corpus of new criticism by scholars who have brought the Italian Arthurian material back into critical conversation.

Text with facing translation of the earliest Italian Tristan romance, providing new evidence for the development of the Tristan strand of the Arthurian legend. This is the first English translation of the earliest Italian Tristan romance, the Tristano Riccardiano, preserved in MS 2543 of the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence. In Italy, Tristan was more popular than any other Arthurian hero; the French prose Tristan gained great currency, soon yielding Italian prose translations / adaptations. The Riccardiano, dating from the late 13th century, is notable for representing an early branch of the French prose Tristan, now lost. The translation offers new evidence for the development of the Tristan story in Europe, particularly in the changes it rings on the themes of love, chivalry, honor, betrayal, and adultery.In theme and narrative style the Riccardiano reflects a new audience and a new social context, that of an urban Tuscan middle class, and an important stage in the emergence of Italian prose narrative. The text and translation are presented here with an introduction, a select bibliography, and index. F. REGINA PSAKI is the Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature at the University of Oregon.