Ciriffo Calvaneo (1572) is a lesser-known work in the Italian literary scene of the second half of the sixteenth century, which can be placed in the genre of chivalric poems and of Ariosto-inspired origins. Although it does not have the fame of Orlando Furioso, it fits into the same cultural climate, where verse narrative reworks medieval chivalric material with a Renaissance flavour. The work was born at a time when Italian literature was undergoing a period of codification of the epic-chivalric poem. After Ariosto and, shortly thereafter, Tasso, many lesser authors attempted to imitate that model: adventurous plots, love stories, duels, magic, and travel.
Like many contemporary works, it is written in ottava rima (ABABABCC), the dominant metrical scheme of Italian Renaissance narrative poetry. Ciriffo Calvaneo is interesting above all because it represents the "minor" diffusion of the Ariosto model: it is not a canonical masterpiece, but it demonstrates how that type of narrative was extremely popular and imitated.