Matteo Bandello (c. 1485–1561) is an outstanding Italian short story writer of the 16th century. Born in Castelnuovo in Piedmont. In his youth he joined the Dominican Order. He traveled a lot, enjoyed the favor of the sovereigns of Northern Italy (d'Este, Sforza, Bentinoglio). He spent some time at the Mantuan court, where he was the teacher of the famous Lucretia Gonzaga (1537). During the years of struggle between the Spanish and French parties for dominance on the peninsula, he decisively sided with the latter. After the Battle of Pavia (1525), which ended in the defeat of the French army, he emigrated to France, where Henry II made him Bishop of Agen (1550). Here Bandello spent the rest of his life, enjoying the attention of the leaders of the French Renaissance. Bandello's main literary work is his short stories (3 volumes, Lucca, 1554, posthumous, IV volume - Lyon, 1573). In total he wrote 214 short stories. In these short stories, Bandello acts as a skillful depicter of the life of Italian Cinquecento society (16th century) and, in the spirit of his time, pays tribute to the sentimentally sensitive and “bloody” genres. Bandello's popularity was very significant. Shakespeare drew the plot of his tragedy Romeo and Juliet from one of his short stories.