Which Italian Renaissance writer is known for his epic poem 'Orlando Furioso'?

Ludovico Ariosto is the Italian Renaissance writer known for the epic poem Orlando Furioso.

First published in 1516, Orlando Furioso was revised in 1521 and expanded into its definitive 1532 edition. The poem continues Matteo Maria Boiardo’s unfinished Orlando Innamorato and follows Orlando, Charlemagne, and other figures from medieval chivalric legend as they battle Saracen forces and pursue love, honor, and adventure.

The title means “The Frenzy of Orlando,” referring to Orlando’s madness after he learns that the woman he loves, Angelica, has married another man. Ariosto combines heroic warfare with romance, satire, magic, and numerous interwoven episodes, creating a deliberately expansive narrative rather than a single straightforward quest.

A common mix-up is Torquato Tasso, another major Italian Renaissance poet. Tasso wrote Jerusalem Delivered, a later epic about the First Crusade, while Ariosto wrote Orlando Furioso. The poem contains 46 cantos and was composed in ottava rima, a traditional Italian stanza form of eight lines.