''Bomarzo'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by the Argentine writer

Manuel Mujica Lainez Manuel Mujica LainezIn fact, the writer himself spelled his surnames without accents, as all his books published during his lifetime show. (11 September 1910 – 21 April 1984) was an Argentine novelist, essayist and art critic. He is mainly ...

, written in 1962 and later adapted by its author to an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

set by

Alberto Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buen ...

, which had its premiere in Washington, D.C., in 1967. It is set in the eerie and surrealistic Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

town and palace of Bomarzo and concerns the morally and physically deformed

Pier Francesco Orsini Pier Francesco Orsini (4 July 1523 – 28 January 1583), also called Vicino Orsini, was an Italian condottiero, patron of the arts and duke of Bomarzo. He is famous as the commissioner of the Mannerist Park of the Monsters in Bomarzo (northern Lazi ...

, Duke of Bomarzo.

References

*
1962 novels Novels by Manuel Mujica Lainez Argentine historical novels Novels set in Italy Lazio {{1960s-hist-novel-stub