L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano A day in the life of… A cavalier servente T he 18th century, the age of Baroque: Venice comes to mind, along with chopines, frangipane and violet perfumes and the Mozart-Salieri rivalry. In those years, Vivaldi was composing his Four Seasons, Casanova had been making the ladies crazy with desire and even managed to escape the Piombi, Venice's most notorious jail. The 18th century was the epit- ome of elegance and coquetterie, and it still inspires those beauti- ful costumes we love to see at the Carnevale di Venezia every year. But don't get me wrong, what happened in Venice, didn't belong to Venice only, so refrain from thinking the cicisbeo, or cavalier servente, the joyous fig- ure at the heart of this article, was a thing of la Serenissima only. No! Cicisbei were every- where in Italy, because the wealthy ladies of the Belpaese enjoyed having a servile — and handsome — companion around when their husband wasn't. Yes, of the Belpaese, because cicis- beismo, the common practice of becoming a cicisbeo, was typi- cally and only Italian. But who was the cicisbeo? Also known, as said, as cavalier servente, he was the faithful gal- lant of a married woman, who had the duty to attend her when in public, entertain her and accompany her to public events. Was he also romantically and sexually involved with his mis- tress? Perhaps. The origin of the phenomenon are uncertain, but Stendhal, great French author but connoisseur of all things Italian, gave a pretty convincing expla- nation: he believed that, in fact, the Italians inherited the tradi- tion of cicisbeismo from the Spaniards (who had a similar figure, the cortejo) during the lat- ter's domination on the peninsula between the 16th and 17th centu- ry. And to be fair with Stendhal, he may have had a point in believing so, because Matteo Bandello, a mid 16th century writer, mentioned every noble- woman at that time had a brac- cere, a gentleman who had the duty to "lend her his arm" (brac- cere comes from braccio, arm) when her husband wasn't around. Cicisbeismo was common across the peninsula, but it isn't so wrong to associate it more strongly with the city of Venice, because it was particularly popu- lar in the North. And contrarily to what urban legends — and movies — may want us to believe, romantic liaisons between cicisbei and their miladies were not so common. Cicisbei had a very intimate rela- tionship with their women, but their role was solely that of pro- tecting them from other men's unwanted attentions when their husbands weren't around. In fact, a cicisbeo was often part of the matrimonial agreement: he was chosen among friends of the families and, apparently, it was normal to pick someone the lady didn't fancy physically. Just to be on the safe side. The cicisbeo, whose name may come from the "ci-cis" sound made when secretly whis- pering in one's ear — possibly hiding behind a hand painted, lacy fan — accompanied his lady from morning to evening, and had even the right to be with her during her morning toeletta, when her maids would dress her and style her hair. He would walk with her around town, go to church, be her escort at dinners, balls and theatre soirées, when- ever her husband wasn't avail- able. But he could not sleep with her, of course. The best, and most accurate, description of a cavalier ser- vente's day comes from Il Giorno, the quintessential repre- sentation of Italian Neoclassicist satire, by Giuseppe Parini. Parini knew cicisbei and their habits well, because he lived with the Serbellonis, an aristocratic Milanese family, for almost a decade: their life was the inspira- tion for the poem, which satiri- cally describes the habits of the aristocracy of those times. And so, we learn the cicisbeo started his day keeping company to his mistress while she was getting dressed. He would sit next to her at meal times, choosing the best dishes for her and offering her cutlery in case she fancied plat- ing her own food. During those long, lazy aristocratic afternoon of yore, he would accompany her to visit friends and family, enter- taining her during tediously long coach trips. In a time when evening outings were de rigueur, he would offer company even during balls and dinners where her husband was present so that he could, Parini ironically under- lines, flirt with other women. Clemente Bondi, another satirical writer from Venice, described the cicisbeo as a "sec- ond husband" who would read for his mistress, cook and even embroider her clothes. I bet it's mostly artistic license he uses, here: he may have gone a tad over the top. Carlo Goldoni, famous Baroque playwright from Venice created several, incredi- bly amusing cicisbeo figures in his comedies: check out The Antiquarian's Family to get an idea of his take on the subject. Literary descriptions aside — but Parini's is pretty spot on, mind— who were really the cicisbei? According to historians, they usually belonged to dis- graced aristocratic families, who could not afford to lead the lavish lifestyle they aspired to with their sole means and therefore accept- ed to become glorified servants for aristocratic women in exchange for money, wealth and status. They had to follow very strict rules, always dress appro- priately, be clean, perfumed and made up (don't forget men used make up, too, back then). They also had to be relatively cultivat- ed, speak some foreign languages and be able to entertain intelli- gent conversations in the highest- end salons of local society. The trend of cicisbeismo was common, but frown upon by many: the Church saw it as a sign of moral decadence, while part of the aristocracy itself disliked it, because it was perceived as use- less, a symbol of their own loss of lineage and purity. Poor cicisbei! They were a maid's male counterpart, a — probably — pleasantly looking accessory for the richest ladies of Northern Italy, a companion for wealthy women neglected by their husbands. A bit toy-boy, a bit best friend, a bit bodyguard: how hard must have been to run around their chopines-wearing mistresses all the time! The cicisbeo, or cavalier servente, had to be always elegantly dressed, as you would have expected from any 18th century lord FRANCESCA BEZZONE LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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