A Lady''s Man : The Cicisbei, Private Morals and National Identity in Italy

Three people in a marriage: a woman and two men. This was the eighteenth-century Italian aristocratic model of marriage, characterized by the presence of the cicisbeo, the escort of another man's wife. Was it a brazen depravity or a complex and refined social institution, revealing aspects of Italian civilization in the Age of the Enlightenment?

Three people in a marriage: a woman and two men. This was the eighteenth-century Italian aristocratic model of marriage, characterised by the presence of the cicisbeo, the official escort of another man''s wife. Did this delineate a clear and brazen sexual depravity or rather a complex and refined social institution, revealing many aspects of Italian civilization in the Age of the Enlightenment?Not only was the presence of a cicisbeo part of a matrimonial, family model; it was also an important factor socially and politically. In a period in which the presence of women at parties was sought - at the theatre and in salons - the lady''s escort played an essential part in promoting a couple''s social life. Indeed, the company and friendship (and perhaps love) which bound a lady and her escort occurred with the knowledge and under the control of the families of the interested parties.Of course, this ''triangular'' arrangement was not unproblematic. The existence of a third party posed a threat to conjugal fidelity and the legitimacy of offspring and, towards the early nineteenth century, when the ideals of Romanticism and the French Revolution were popular there was a rapid decline in the practice. For as Italy reconstructed its national identity alongside other modern European countries the image of private immorality associated with cicisbeism constituted an intolerable blemish.