Onomastica manzoniana: don Rodrigo

Numerous studies have dealt with onomastics in Promessi sposi [The Betrothed], but little attention has been dedicated to the name of Don Rodrigo. The only literary precedent that has thus far been considered is Don Rodrigue in Corneille’s Le Cid. However, there are other figures in literature who bear this same name. This article focuses in particular on Giambattista Fagiuoli’s rendering of Machiavelli’s Favola in a short poem in tercets, in which the name Belfagor in the original is replaced by Rodrigo/Don Rodrigo.