Hints of the «Tuscan-Milanese» language in the Manzoni's unpublished Notabilia to the 'Tancia' of Michelangelo Buonarroti the Young

Abstract

In this article is introduced the edition with commentary of Manzoni’s unpublished notabilia to Michelangelo Buonarroti the Young’s rustic comedy La Tancia (1611). Quotations from this comedy can be found among Manzoni’s marginalia to Crusca Veronese: as a matter of fact, Manzoni treasured Buonarroti’s comedy as an example of text which tried to mirror the oral speech of the Florentines. Moreover, some of the underlined expressions show unexpected and close correspondences to the Milanese dialect. Therefore, far before the well-known journey to Florence, Manzoni can have a sound sample of the «toscano-milanese» language which will be the main feature of his first edition of The Betrothed (1825-1827). The unpublished notabilia to La Tancia, thus, pave the way to the enrichment of the linguistic commentary of the first edition of the novel.