Orlando furioso

`I sing of knights and ladies, of love and arms, of courtly chivalry, of courageous deeds.

' So begins Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1532), the culmination of the chivalric legends of Charlemagne and the Saracen invasion of France.

It is a brilliantly witty parody of the medieval romances, and a fitting monument to the court society of the Italian Renaissance which gave them birth.

This unabridged prose translation faithfully captures the narrative entire and is a kaleidoscope of scenes and emotions of fact and fantasy.