Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was born in Venice on 25 February 1707, in a republic where theater meant improvised stock characters and broad physical comedy. He spent his career dismantling that tradition, writing plays that dramatized the lives, values, and conflicts of the emerging middle classes with an ingenious mix of wit and honesty. His works made rich use of Venetian dialect, regional vernacular, and the colloquialisms his contemporaries actually spoke, offering them images of themselves instead of caricatures. He wrote in both French and Italian, and under the pen name Polisseno Fegeio, Pastor Arcade - a title he claimed the Arcadians of Rome bestowed on him. He died in Paris on 6 February 1793, having written some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays.