(1474-1533) Italian poet. He wrote Latin poems and comedies on Classical lines, including the poem Orlando furioso 1516, published 1532, an epic treatment of the Roland story, the perfect poetic expression of the Italian Renaissance.
Ariosto was born in Reggio, and joined the household of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este 1503. He was frequently engaged in ambassadorial missions and diplomacy for the Duke of Ferrara. In 1521 he became governor of a province in the Apennines, and after three years retired to Ferrara, where he died.