The Rage for Country Life
(Le smanie della villeggiatura)
Carlo Goldoni - 1761.
Comedy and first part of a trilogy that satirises fashionable country life.
Leonardo and his sister Vittoria prepare for
another financially ruinous stay in the country. They are to travel with
Filippo and his daughter Giacinta, a strong-minded, fashionable young
lady with whom Leonardo is in love. Learning that Filippo has invited
Guglielmo, an admirer of Giacinta, to accompany them, Leonardo cancels
his trip. Vittoria is in despair at the notion that Giacinta, her rival
in fashion, will be able to show off her new Paris-inspired clothes in
the country while she herself is forced to remain in town. Leonardo prevails
upon Filippo to withdraw the invitation to Guglielmo, but Giacinta, refusing
to be ruled by Leonardo, talks her father into reinstating the invitation.
The situation is resolved when Leonardo formally asks for Giacinta's
hand in marriage and is accepted. All now set off for the country, and
Guglielmo reluctantly finds himself paired with Vittoria.