9. ‘Now Despised, a Servant, Abandoned’: Wounded Italy, the Moresca, and the Performance of Alterity

During Carnival at the court of Urbino in 1513, two intermedii (interludes) were staged across the course of two unrelated comedies, both highlighting the personification of a ransacked Italy. This chapter explores the presentation of violated Italy in the broader context of the Italian Wars (1494–1559) and specifically in relation to the Urbinate audience, whose own city had been sacked some ten years previously. Drawing on tropes familiar to the audience, including those associated with popular laments, this chapter demonstrates how performances were designed to elicit an intense, bodily identification. Italy’s first performance was wracked by her inability to speak, while her second, envoiced performance engaged with themes of sexual violence and betrayal. The performance concluded with a moresca demonstrating military expertise, seemingly to eviscerate the memory of Italia’s suffering, yet the efficacy of the moresca, as antidote to Italy’s (and the Italian peninsula’s) alterity, was questionable.