INTRODUCTION
Matteo Bandello, who deserves to rank as the most important of the Italian novellieri, was born at Castelnuovo, in Tortona, Piedmont, towards the end of the fifteenth century. It was doubtless owing to the influence of his uncle, Vincenzio Bandello, General of the Dominicans, that he was led to choose the Church as a profession. While yet a boy, he visited Rome, where he joined the Order of the Predicatori, and in due course was sent to the famous convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie at Milan. His stay there, however, was brief, as he was soon called upon to accompany his uncle when in his official capacity he had to visit the various Dominican convents of France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Travel thus brought the young monk into touch with the world, and so rare an opportunity, at this impressionable age, of studying men and manners
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