The Grass-Snake in Verona. On Madrigals Set to Music by Jacopo da Bologna and Giovanni da Cascia

After a short introduction concerning the concept of “intertextuality”, this essay analyses the relationship between the four madrigals of the so-called “biscia cycle”: Nel bel zardino, Posando sopra un’aqua, and Soto l’imperio, set to music by Jacopo da Bologna; and Donna già fui set to music by Giovanni da Cascia. The author describes the intertextual links between these madrigals, and discusses the interpretations and datings proposed by Corsi, Paganuzzi, Carleton and Nosow. Since no one hypothesis is entirely convincing, the author proposes a new theory that suggests that the poetic texts make allegorical references to the war between Lodrisio Visconti and Milan in 1339.