The 1506 Italian translation of La Celestina (or Celestina) occupies a unique place in the textual transmission of the Spanish masterpiece. In fact, while there are three extant editions of the first version of the work (Comedia de Calisto y Melibea), all three printed around 1500, the earliest surviving copy in Spanish of the second version of the work (Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as La Celestina or Celestina, from the name of the main character) was printed in Zaragoza in 1507. Therefore, the Italian translation turns out to be the oldest testimony of the Spanish masterpiece, though belonging to the indirect tradition. Most notably, the Italian translation made by Hordognez became the text used by translators of the time in various European languages. Despite the work’s relevance, its analysis and study has always been considered secondary and it has not received the attention it deserved. In fact, after a couple of articles written by Scoles in the 1960s and a critical edition of the work prepared by Kish in 1973, scholars in general have paid hardly any attention to the Italian translation and no one, with the exception of the few references made by the abovementioned scholars, has analyzed the text of the translation for its own merit. Just for this reason alone, every scholar of Celestina should be grateful to Lampugnani for his efforts in presenting a close examination of a text that, until now, has remained virtually unexplored.

Lampugnani’s study starts with an introduction and two brief chapters in which he examines the success of the translation during the first half of the sixteenth century, summarizing the scarce information about the translator and indicating, among other things, the extant editions and reprints of the text. In chapter 3 the author presents a few considerations regarding the dedicatory letter and the acrostic stanzas that precede the actual work. In chapters 4 to 8, Lampugnani offers, without any doubt, the most interesting and fruitful part of the study. It consists of a detailed investigation into the method followed by Hordognez in his translation.

The exhaustive study in chapter 4 tries to show that Hordognez’s intention was to be as faithful as possible to the original text by using the ad verbum method of translation. At the same time Lampugnani points out the techniques the translator would choose when such practice did not work due to linguistic and sociocultural differences. In chapter 5 the author deals with the translation of what he calls “false friends,” namely the problem of cognates and their different meanings in Spanish and Italian. It is clear that his intention is always to bring the Castilian text closer to the Italian world by adapting, for example, a list of typical Spanish expressions or mentioning Iberian wines equally popular to wine of the Italian region. In chapter 6 Lampugnani discusses the analytical criteria and the methodology followed by Hordognez and shows the difficulties he encountered in dealing with periphrastic forms and proverbs. Of particular interest are the last two chapters. Chapter 7 is dedicated to Hordognez’s style and, more specifically, the translator’s interventions in the text aimed at improving his translation stylistically and dissipating any possible ambiguity. In chapter 8, Lampugnani focuses on Hordognez as a critic of Celestina and studies the passages where he intervened by modifying or expanding the plot, stage directions, and characters’ description. The study ends with a brief conclusion, a bibliography, and an appendix with a list of editions of the Italian translation followed by the transcription of some paratextual material at the beginning of the Italian translation.

This is, without doubt, an important study that surely fills a gap in Celestina’s criticism. However, it is evident that Lampugnani’s study is somewhat outdated. This can readily be detected by the choice of the Spanish edition on which he bases his analysis. Since the original text used by Hordognez has not been preserved, Lampugnani’s comparative study is based on the edition prepared by Criado de Val and Trotter in 1970, a critical edition with many limits and whose text is too defective to be considered reliable. Similarly, both the appendix he added with a list of editions of the Italian translation not collected in catalogues and his bibliography would have greatly benefited from an update. Nevertheless, these minor faults do not invalidate Lampugnani’s study and every scholar interested in Celestina or in the theory and practice of translation will be surely grateful to the linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis carried out in La prima traduzione italiana de “La Celestina.”