Pietro Chiari

Pietro Chiari (25 December 1712 – 31 August 1785) was an Italian Catholic priest, playwright, novelist and librettist.

Life
Chiari was born and died in Brescia. He was a Jesuit until leaving the order in 1747. From 1747 to 1762 he was court poet of Duke Francis III of Modena, in Venice, although not at the public cost. During this period he wrote nearly 60 comedies, which from 1761 or earlier often brought him into conflict with his rival Goldoni. With a deep hatred for the style of Molière, Chiari made comédie larmoyante fashionable in Italy under the name commedia fiebile. He also edited the Gazzetta Veneta from 1761 to 1762, when he returned to his birthplace to spend his final years.

Tragedies

 * Catilina, based on the life of Catilina
 * Giulio Cesare, based on the life of Julius Caesar
 * Kouli-Kan, based on the life of Timur
 * La Morte di Kouli-Kan
 * Marco Antonio triumviro, based on the life of Mark Antony
 * Marco Tullio Cicerone, based on the life of Cicero

Novels

 * La Filosofessa italiana (1753)
 * La Cantatrice per disgrazia, osia le avventure della Marchesa N. N. scritte da lei medesima (1754)
 * Le Memorie di madama Tolot ovvero la giocatrice di lotto (1757)
 * La Bella Pellegrina (1759)
 * La Francese in Italia (1759)
 * La Veneziana di spirito (1762)
 * L'Americana ramminga, cioè Memorie di Donna Jnnez di Quebrada. Scritte da lei stessa, e ora pubblicate da M. G. Di S. Sua confidente amica (1763; work attributed to Chiari)
 * La Ballerina onorata, o sia Memorie d'una figlia naturale del duca N. V. scritte da lei medesima
 * La Fantasima, aneddoti castigliani d'una dama di qualità, scritti da lei medesima
 * Memorie del Barone di Trenk Comandante de' Panduri (1784; date it came to light)
 * I privilegi dell'ignoranza – Lettere d'una Americana ad un Letterato d'Europa (1784)