Authors

Italian · 1850–1919

Ferdinando Fontana

Ferdinando Fontana was an Italian poet, playwright, and librettist best known as the librettist of Puccini's first two operas — Le Villi (1884) and Edgar (1889). He was part of the Scapigliatura artistic movement in Milan, which rejected academic convention in favor of bohemian experimentation. His own poetry and theatrical works have been largely overshadowed by his operatic collaborations.