Achille Torelli (May 5, 1841 – January 31, 1922) was an Italian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

to Anna Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa, who was

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE (23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957), known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (), was a Sicilian writer, nobleman, and Prince of Lampedusa. He is most famous for his only novel, '' ...

's aunt, and Vincenzo Torelli, a well-known journalist, librettist, writer, editor and impresario of

Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name *Arbëres ...

descent. His first success was the comedy, ''After Death'' written at the age of seventeen, and acted at Naples and then at

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. This was succeeded by several comedies, most of which were successful. Torelli volunteered for the Italian army in the campaign of 1866, and was laid up for several months in consequence of a fall from his horse at

Custoza Custoza (; ) is a northern Italy, Italian village and hamlet () of Sommacampagna, a municipality in the province of Verona, Veneto. As of 2011, its population was 812. History The name of the village is derived from Latin ('protection' or 'wa ...

. He later produced a long list of plays, both tragedies and comedies, of which perhaps the best is ''

Triste Realtà Triste (Spanish for Sad) may refer to: *Triste, a small settlement in Las Peñas de Riglos Las Peñas de Riglos is a municipality located in the Hoya de Huesca comarca, province of Huesca, in Aragon, Spain. It is formed by the merger of several t ...

'' (1871) which won the applause of the veteran Manzoni. Angelo de Gubernatis considered Torelli's '' I Mariti'' a masterpiece''Dizionario biografico degli scrittori contemporanei''. Angelo de Gubernatis. Firenze, Le Monnier, 1979 although few would consider it a comedy. Torelli lived a very retired life, spending most of his time in study and writing. He died in 1922.

References

*''The Humour of Italy'', A. Werner {{DEFAULTSORT:Torelli 1841 births 1922 deaths Italian dramatists and playwrights