Ariosto‘s third and final version of the…

Ariosto‘s third and final version of the Orlando Furioso appears on September 8, 1532, sixteen years after the publication of the first version.

The poem is divided into forty-six cantos, each containing a variable number of eight-line stanzas in ottava rima (a rhyme scheme of abababcc).

Ottava rima had been used in previous Italian romantic epics, including Luigi Pulci's Morgante and Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato.

Ariosto's work is 38,736 lines long in total, making it one of the longest poems in European literature.

One of the most influential works of European literature, it remains an inspiration for writers to this day.