The Viceroyalty of Naples in Cervantes’ Novelas ejemplares

Abstract

In many of his literary works Cervantes exhibits a desire for Italy, which can be encountered in his dedications and his many references to the art, literature and culture of the peninsula. Cervantes recalls in particular his lengthy stay in Naples, capital of the most important Spanish viceroyalties of the time. This essay studies Cervantes’ desire for Italy through the lenses of the Novelas ejemplares. Here, this impetus seems somewhat ambiguous in that the dedicatory to the Count of Lemos is far from laudatory and the references to the viceroyalty in the Novelas ejemplares themselves are brief and almost sinister. Instead of affirming the desire for Italy, these allusions to Naples create an almost insoluble mystery.