Cesare della Valle (1776/77–1860) was Duke of Ventignano (a hamlet in

Fucecchio Fucecchio () is a town and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany. The main economical resources of the city are the leather industries, shoes industry and other manufacturing activities, although in ...

, Florence). He is best known today as a playwright and librettist. He wrote the libretto to

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

's opera ''

Maometto II ''Maometto II'' (or ') is an 1820 opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare della Valle. Set in the 1470s during a time of war between the Turks and Venetians, the work was commissioned by the Teatro di San Carlo i ...

'' from his own drama tragedy ''Anna Erizo'' (1820). Both were based on real-life Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

who took Negroponte from the Venetians in 1470. That opera was completely reworked a few years later into '' Le siège de Corinthe'' (1826), but based on the same characters and story created by della Valle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:della Valle, Cesare 1770s births 1860 deaths Italian librettists