Pietro Della Valle

Pietro della Valle (2 April 1586 – 21 April 1652) was an Italian who traveled throughout Asia during the Renaissance period. His travels took him to the Holy Land, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and as Far as India.

Biography[link]

Pietro Della Valle was born in Rome on 2 April 1586, to a wealthy and noble family. His early life was spent in the pursuit of literature and arms. He was a cultivated man, who knew Latin, Greek, classical mythology, and the Bible. He also became a member of the Roman academy of the Umoristi, and acquired some reputation as a versifier and rhetorician. When Pietro was disappointed in love and began to consider suicide, Mario Schipano, a professor of medicine in Naples, suggested the idea of traveling in the East. It was Schipano who received a sort of diary in letters from Pietro's travels.

Before leaving Naples, Pietro took a vow to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He left Venice by boat on the 8th of June 1614 and reached Constantinople; he remained there for more than a year and acquired a good knowledge of Turkish and a little Arabic. On the 25th of September, 1615, he went to Alexandria. Because he was a nobleman of distinction, he traveled with a suite of nine persons, and with every advantage due to his rank. From Alexandria he went on to Cairo, and, after an excursion to Mount Sinai, left Cairo for the Holy Land. He arrived there on the 8th of March, 1616, in time to take part in the Easter celebrations at Jerusalem.

After visiting the holy sites, Pietro traveled from Damascus to Aleppo. After seeing a portrait of the beautiful Nestorian Christian Sitti Maani Gioerida (of mixed Syrian and Armenian descent), he went to Baghdad and married her a month later. While in the Middle East, he made one of the first modern records of the location of ancient Babylon and provided "remarkable descriptions" of the site. He also brought back to Europe inscribed bricks from Nineveh and Ur, some of the first examples of Cuneiform available to modern Europeans.^[1] At that time Baghdad was at war with Turkey, so he had to leave Baghdad on the 4th of January, 1617. Accompanied by his wife Maani, he proceeded by Hamadan to Isfahan. Afterward, he visited Persia. (The first documented ancestors of the Persian cat were imported from Persia into Italy in 1626 by Pietro Della Valle.) In the summer of 1618, he joined Shah Abbas in a campaign in northern Persia. Here he was well received at court and treated as the shah's guest.

On his return to Isfahan he began to think of going back home through India, rather than endanger himself again in Turkey. However, the state of his health and the war between Persia and the Portuguese at Ormuz generated problems. In October 1621 he left Isfahan, visited Persepolis and Shiraz and made his way to the coast. But it was not until January 1623 that he found a passage for Surat on the English ship Whale, Captain Nicolas Woodcock.

He sojourned in India until November 1624, his headquarters being Surat and Goa. In India Pietro Della Valle was introduced to the King Vekatappa Nayaka of Keladi, South India by Vithal Shenoy, the chief administrator of those territories. The accounts of his travels are one of the most important sources of history for the region.

He was at Muscat in January 1625, and at Basra in March. In May he started by the desert route to Aleppo, and boarded on a French ship at Alexandretta. He reached Cyprus and finally Rome on the 28th of March 1626. There, he was received with many honors, not only in literary circles, but also from Pope Urban VIII, who appointed him a gentleman of his bedchamber. The rest of his life was uneventful; he married his second wife, Mariuccia (Tinatin de Ziba), a Georgian orphan of a noble family. She had been adopted by his first wife as a child, had traveled with him, and was the mother of fourteen children. He died in Rome on the 21st of April 1652, and is buried at his family's burial vault at Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

By 1665 the portion of his "Travels" dealing with India and with his return had been translated into English. They contain accounts of his discussions with "Hindoo" Brahmans about whether the Egyptians or Indians first came up with the concept of reincarnation, a dialogue with a woman who invited him to her upcoming sati, a description of the barefoot Queen of Olaza, who was out on the embankments giving directions to her engineers—and many other bits of first-rate ethnography.

Apart from his activities as an ethnographer, Della Valle was also a composer and a writer of theoretical treatises on music. He composed several dialogues (actually brief oratorios) on biblical subjects. His only preserved work is an oratorio composed for l'Oratorio del Croficisso di Saint Marcello, where he experiments with musical modes and scales inspired by ancient music theory. For this purpose, he developed two new instruments, such as a "violone panharmonico" and a "cembalo triharmonico". Notwithstanding his interest in ancient musical practices, in his theoretical writings on music (e.g. "Della musica dell'età nostra che non è punto inferiore, anzi è migliore di quella dell'età passata", Rome 1640, and "Note … sopra la musica antica e moderna, indirizzato al Sig.r Nicolò Farfaro", 1640/41), he praises the modern music culture in contemporary Rome and defended the modern music against the criticism of Nicolò Farfaro, an Italian musician of his times.

Pietro Della Valle also wrote texts and librettos for several musical spectacles, such as "Il carro di fedeltà d'Amore", (music by his teacher of harpsichord Paolo Quagliati, performed in Rome in 1606 and printed in 1611), and "La valle rinverdita" (written in celebration of the birth of his first child in 1629 - music lost).

Works[link]

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Opere[link]

• Il Carro di Fideltà d’amore (music by Paolo Quagliati), Robletti, Roma, 1611.
• "Funeral Oration on his Wife Maani", whose remains he brought with him to Rome and buried there (1627)
• Account of Shah Abbas (1628)
• Discorso sulla musica dell'età nostra, Roma, 1640.
• The Travels in Persia (2 parts) were published by his sons in 1658, and the third part (India) in 1663.
• Viaggi di Pietro Della Valle il pellegrino, descritti da lui medesimo in lettere familiari all'erudito suo amico Mario Schipano, divisi in tre parti cioè: la Turchia, la Persia e l'India. Colla vita e ritratto dell'autore. Torino, 1843.

See also[link]

• García de Silva Figueroa

Sources and References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• bartleby.com, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001

For excerpts of the early English translation and for further information:

• columbia.edu
• R. Amalgia, 'Per una conoscenza piii completa della figura e dell'opera di Pietro della Valle', Rendiconti dell'Accademia dei Lincei, series vin, vol. vi, 1951, 375-81.
• L. Bianconi, Viaggio in Levante di Pietro della Valle, Florence, 1942
• P. G. Bietenholz, Pietro della Valle 1586-1652: Studien zur Oeschichte der Orientkenntnis und des Orientbildes im Abendlande, Basel-Stuttgart, 1962
• Wilfrid Blunt, Pietro's pilgrimage: a journey to India and back at the beginning of the seventeenth century, London, 1953.
• I. Ciampi, Della vita e delle opera di Pietro della Valle, il Pellegrino, Rome, 1880
• E. Rossi, ' Pietro della Valle orientalista romano (1586–1652) ', Oriente Moderno, XXXIII, 1953, 49-64
• ________, 'Versi turchi e altri scritti inediti di Pietro della Valle', Rivista degli Studi Orientali, xxn, 1947, 92-8
• A complete edition of della Valle's letters to Mario Schipano is by G. Gancia, Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, il Pellegrino, Brighton, 1843
• Other letters from Persia have been edited by F. Gaeta and L. Lockhart, viaggi di Pietro della Valle: Lettere dalla Persia, vol. I, Rome, 1972.
• John Gurney has two informative articles on della Valle: One is J. D. Gurney. “Pietro della Valle: The Limits of Perception” in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 49 (1986), no. 1, pp. 103–116; the other one is his entry in the Encyclopedia Iranica
• Robert R. Holzer. "Della Valle, Pietro." Grove Music Online. oxfordmusiconline.com, October 2010. Oxford Music Online

Della Valle may refer to:

• Alessandro Della Valle, San Marinese footballer;
• Andrea della Valle, 16th century Italian cardinal;
• Andrea Della Valle, Italian entrepreneur;
• Antonio della Valle, Zoologist;
• Crosio della Valle, comune in Varese;
• Dario Della Valle, Italian Olympic boxer;
• Diego Della Valle, Italian entrepreneur – brother of Andrea;
• Edmondo Della Valle, Italian football player;
• Filippo della Valle, 18th century Italian sculptor;
• Jay Della Valle, American film maker;
• Nicola Della Valle, Italian singer;
• Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveller of the 17th century in Asia;
• Prato della Valle, square in Padova;
• San Dorligo della Valle, Italian comune in Trieste;
• Sant'Andrea della Valle, church (basilica) in Rome.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Φ

Double portrait of Robert Shirley and his Circassian wife Teresia, c.1624–1627. He wears the exotic Persian clothes which so impressed his European hosts, whilst she wears her native style of dress but also holds a flintlock pistol and a pocket watch, symbols of the technologies Europe were introducing to Persia.

Sir Robert Shirley (c. 1581 – 13 July 1628) was an English traveler and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and of the adventurer Sir Thomas.

Diplomatic Activities[link]

Robert went with his brother Anthony to Persia in 1598. Anthony was sent to the Safavid Persia from 1 December 1599 to May 1600, with 5,000 horses to train the Persian army according to the rules and customs of the English militia. He was also commanded to reform and retrain the artillery. When he left Persia, he left Robert behind with fourteen Englishmen, who remained in Persia for years. Having married Teresia (aka Teresa), a Circassian lady, he stayed in Persia until 1608, when Shah Abbas sent him on a diplomatic errand to James I and to other European princes, the Persian embassy to Europe (1609–1615). He was employed, as his brother had been, as ambassador to several princes of Christendom, for the purpose of uniting them in a confederacy against the Ottoman Empire.

Painting of Robert Sherley visiting Pope Paul V in 1611, Sala dei Corazzieri, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome. Painted in 1615-1616.

He went first to Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was entertained by Sigismund III Vasa. In June of that year he arrived in Germany, where he received the title of Earl (count palatine) and knight of the Roman Empire from the Emperor Rudolph II. Pope Paul V also conferred upon him the title of Earl. From Germany Sir Robert went to Florence and then Rome, where he entered on Sunday, 27 September 1609, attended by a suite of eighteen persons. He next visited Milan, and then proceeded to Genoa, whence he embarked to Spain, arriving in Barcelona in December 1609. He sent for his Persian wife and they remained in Spain, principally at Madrid, until the summer of 1611.

Sir Robert Shirley, by Anthony Van Dyck, painted in Rome in 1622.

In 1613 he returned to Persia, but in 1615 he returned to Europe and lived in Madrid. In a pleasingly serendipitous meeting Shirley's caravan met Thomas Coryate, the eccentric traveller and travel writer (and attendant of Prince Henry's court in London), in the Persian desert in 1615. Shirley's third journey to Persia was undertaken in 1627, but soon after reaching the country he died at Qazvin.

In art[link]

There are several double portraits of Shirley and his wife in English collections, including the private collection of R.J. Berkeley and of Petworth House (by van Dyck).^[1]

See also[link]

• García de Silva Figueroa
• Safavid dynasty
• Military history of Iran

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Zorro
Zorro's debut: The Curse of Capistrano
Publication information
Publisher	Zorro Productions, Inc.
First appearance	All-Story Weekly vol. 100 #2 (August 6, 1919)
Created by	Johnston McCulley
In-story information
Alter ego	Don Diego (de la) Vega (original) Different successors in different versions
Abilities	Superb athlete, horseman, swordsman, marksman, and unarmed combatant Well educated, wealthy and cultured nobleman Master of stealth Extensive scientific knowledge and advanced gadgets (depending on the version)

Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media.

Zorro (Spanish for "Fox") is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a nobleman and master living in the Spanish colonial era of California. The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black-clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating those same foes.

Publishing history[link]

Zorro debuted in McCulley's 1919 story "The Curse of Capistrano", serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.^[1] At the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted as The Mark of Zorro (1920), a film which was a success. McCulley's story was re-released by the publisher Grosset & Dunlap under the same title, to tie in with the film.

Due to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than 60 additional Zorro stories, beginning in 1922. The last, The Mask of Zorro (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's public revelation of his identity. The black costume that modern audiences associate with the character stems from Fairbanks' silent film^{[dubious – discuss]} rather than McCulley's original story. McCulley's subsequent Zorro adventures copied the costume of Fairbanks's Zorro, rather than the other way around. McCulley died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming popular.

Fictional history[link]

The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, the first Zorro film and instrumental in the early success of the character

In The Curse of Capistrano Don Diego Vega becomes Señor Zorro in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians", and "to aid the oppressed." He is the title character, as he is dubbed the "curse of Capistrano."

The story involves him romancing Lolita Pulido, an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop, she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. His rival and antagonist is Captain Ramon. Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales, Zorro's enemy and Diego's friend; Zorro's deaf and mute servant Bernardo; his ally Fray (Friar) Felipe; his father Don Alejandro Vega; and a group of noblemen (caballeros) who at first hunt him but are won over to his cause.

In later stories McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of whom know Zorro's identity.

In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega. In fact, the writer was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead and Diego publicly exposed as Zorro, but in the sequel the antagonist was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret.

Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's exploits. Many of the continuations feature a younger character taking up the mantle of Zorro.

Characteristics[link]

In The Curse of Capistrano McCulley describes Diego as "unlike the other full-blooded youths of the times"; though proud as befitting his class (and seemingly uncaring about the lower classes), he shuns action, rarely wearing his sword except for fashion, and is indifferent to romance with women. This is, of course, a sham. This portrayal, with minor variations, is followed in most Zorro media.

A notable exception to this portrayal is Disney's Zorro (1957–59), where Diego, instead, appears as a passionate and compassionate crusader for justice—but masquerades as "the most inept swordsman in all of California." In this show, everyone knows Diego would love to do what Zorro does, but thinks he does not have the skill.

The Family Channel's Zorro (1990-93) takes this concept further. While Diego pretends to be inept with a sword, the rest of his facade is actually exaggerating his real interests. Diego is actually well versed and interested in art, poetry, literature, and science. His facade is pretending to only be interested in these things and to have no interest in swordplay or action. Zorro also has a full-blown laboratory in his hidden cave in this version of the story.

Character motifs[link]

The character's visual motif is typically a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape, a flat-brimmed black sombrero cordobés, and a black cowl sackcloth mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards. In his first appearance, he wears a cloak instead of a cape, and a black cloth veil mask covering his whole face with slits for eyes. Other features of the costume may vary; sometimes black riding boots or bell-bottom trousers, sometimes a vest, a waistsash or riding belt, and a moustache.

His favored weapon is a rapier which he often uses to leave his distinctive mark, a Z made with three quick cuts. He also uses a bullwhip. In his debut, he uses a pistol.

The fox is never depicted as Zorro's emblem, but as a metaphor for the character's wiliness ("Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free..." from the Disney television show theme).

His heroic pose consists of rearing on his horse Toronado/Tornado, sword raised high. (The logo of Zorro Productions, Inc. uses this pose.)

Skills and resources[link]

Zorro is an agile athlete and acrobat, using his bullwhip as a gymnastic accoutrement to swing through gaps between city roofs, and is very capable of landing from great heights and taking a fall. Although he is a master swordsman and marksman he has more than once demonstrated his prowess in unarmed combat against multiple opponents.

His calculating and precise dexterity as a tactician has enabled him to use his two main weapons, his sword and bullwhip, as an extension of his deft hand. He never uses brute strength, more his fox-like sly mind and well-practiced technique to outmatch an opponent.

In some versions, Zorro keeps a medium-sized dagger tucked in his left boot for emergencies. He has used his cape as a blind, a trip-mat and a disarming tool. Zorro's boots are also sometimes weighted, as is his hat which he has thrown, Frisbee-like, as an efficiently substantial warning to enemies. But more often than not, he uses psychological mockery to make his opponents too angry to be coordinated in combat.

Zorro is a skilled horseman. The name of his jet-black horse has varied through the years. In The Curse of Capistrano, it was unnamed. Later versions named the horse Toronado/Tornado or Tempest. In other versions, Zorro rides a white horse named Phantom.

McCulley's concept of a band of men helping Zorro is often absent from other versions of the character. An exception is Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), starring Reed Hadley as Diego. In McCulley's stories, Zorro was aided by a deaf mute named Bernardo. In Disney's Zorro television series, Bernardo is not deaf but pretends to be, and serves as Zorro's spy. He is a capable and invaluable helper for Zorro, sometimes wearing the mask to reinforce his master's charade. The Family Channel's Zorro television series replaces Bernardo with a teenager named Felipe, played by Juan Diego Botto, with a similar disability (his muteness is the result of trauma) and pretense.

Inspirations[link]

Zorro bears some similarities to historical Andalusian bandits of the 18th and 19th centuries.^{[citation needed]} He is most closely associated with Joaquin Murrieta, whose life was fictionalized in an 1854 dime novel by John Rollin Ridge. Other possible inspirations for the character include Robin Hood, Reynard the Fox, Salomon Pico, Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, and Tiburcio Vasquez. Another possibility was William Lamport, an Irish soldier living in Mexico in the 17th century. His life inspired a fictional book by Vicente Riva Palacio, and a biography, The Irish Zorro, was published in 2004. The Yokuts Indian Estanislao, who led a revolt against the Mission San Jose in 1827, is another possible inspiration. In the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, Murrieta's (fictional) brother succeeds Diego as Zorro.

The 1890s penny dreadful treatment of the Spring Heeled Jack character as a masked avenger may have inspired some aspects of Zorro's heroic persona. Spring Heeled Jack was portrayed as a nobleman who created a flamboyant, masked alter ego to fight injustice, frequently demonstrated exceptional athletic and combative skills, maintained a hidden lair and was known to carve the letter "S" into walls with his rapier as a calling card.

Like the The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro keeps his true identity free of suspicion by acting as a fop or dandy in his persona as the nobleman Don Diego. The all-black Fairbanks film costume, which with variations has remained the standard costume for the character, was likely adapted from that of the Arrow film serial character The Masked Rider. In 1919, he was the first Mexican black-clad masked mystery rider on a black horse to be seen on the silver screen, before the following year's release of The Mark of Zorro. Fairbanks' costume is identical to the Rider's, albeit with a half-mask and without the hat.

Appearances in media[link]

Books[link]

• Johnston McCulley's original magazine serial, "The Curse of Capistrano" from All-Story Weekly, was published in 1924 as a novella by Grosset & Dunlap under the title The Mark of Zorro. It was reprinted by MacDonald & Co. in 1959 and by Tor books in 1998, ISBN 978-0-8125-4007-9.
• Johnston McCulley's Zorro short stories were reprinted by Pulp Adventures Inc. in a series of trade paperback editions.
  • Zorro The Master's Edition Volume One (1932–1944) February 2000 ISBN 1-891729-20-9
  • Zorro The Master's Edition Volume Two (1944–1946) January 2002 ISBN 1-891729-21-7
  • Zorro The Master's Edition: A Task For Zorro (1947) July 2002 ISBN 1-891729-31-4
• A series of paperback novels were published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. Books in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
  • Zorro and the Jaguar Warriors by Jerome Preisler September 1998 ISBN 978-0-8125-6767-0
  • Zorro and The Dragon Riders by David Bergantino March 1999 ISBN 978-0-8125-6768-7
  • Zorro and the Witch's Curse by John Whitman April 2000 ISBN 978-0-8125-6769-4
  • Gerard Ronan's Biography of William Lamport "The Irish Zorro" was published by Brandon Books in 2004. ISBN 978-0-86322-329-7.
• Minstrel Books published A series of young reader novels based on the motion picture The Mask of Zorro.
  • The Treasure of Don Diego by William McCay 1998 ISBN 978-0-671-51968-1
  • Skull and Crossbones by Frank Lauria 1999 ISBN 978-0-671-51970-4
  • The Secret Swordsman by William McCay 1999 ISBN 978-0-671-51969-8
  • The Lost Temple by Frank Lauria 1999
• Zorro filmographic books have also been published:
  • The Legend of Zorro by Bill Yenne 1991 Mallard Press ISBN 978-0-7924-5547-9
  • Zorro Unmasked The Official History by Sandra Curtis 1998 Hyperion ISBN 978-0-7868-8285-4
  • Tales of Zorro anthology edited by Richard Dean Starr 2008 Moonstone Books ISBN 978-1-933076-31-7
• The character was also the subject of a historical novel by a famous Chilean author.
  • Zorro by Isabel Allende 2005 HarperCollins ISBN 0-06-077897-0 (see article)

Films[link]

The character has been adapted for over forty films.^[2] They include:

American films[link]

• The Mark of Zorro (1920), with Douglas Fairbanks
• Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), with Douglas Fairbanks
• The Bold Caballero (1936), with Robert Livingston
• Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), with Reed Hadley
• The Mark of Zorro (1940), with Tyrone Power
• The Sign of Zorro (1958), with Guy Williams, portions of the first 13 Zorro TV series episodes edited into a feature film, released overseas in 1958 and domestically in 1960.
• Zorro, the Avenger (1959), with Guy Williams, another theatrical compilation of several Zorro TV episodes, released overseas, and was not seen in the United States until it was eventually aired on the Disney Channel.
• The Mark of Zorro (1974 film) (1974), a made for television movie with Frank Langella as Zorro that reuses the Alfred Newman theme from the 1940 The Mark of Zorro.
• Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981), a parody, with George Hamilton. Diego, Jr., breaks his leg shortly after launching his career as a new Zorro, and his gay twin brother Ramon, now calling himself Bunny Wigglesworth, volunteers to fill in while he recuperates.
• The Mask of Zorro (1998), played against tradition, with Anthony Hopkins as an aged Diego de la Vega and Antonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta, a misfit outlaw who is groomed to become the next Zorro.
• The Legend of Zorro (2005), the sequel to the 1998 The Mask of Zorro, again starring Antonio Banderas.

20th Century Fox are working on a reboot Zorro film called Zorro Reborn with Gael Garcia Bernal in the title role with a script by Glen Gers, Lee Shipman, and Brian McGeevy. Sony are also planning another film with a script by Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia based on the novel by Isabel Allende.^[3].^[4]

Mexican films[link]

• La Gran Aventura Del Zorro (1974), Mexican Western with Rodolfo de Anda, the first Mexican actor to play the role; with Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as the villain and set in a very primitive San Francisco Bay Area.

A similar character was "The Black Wolf" set in Monterey, California in 1846.

• El lobo negro (1981) Spain & Mexico Fernando Allende
• Duelo a muerte/Revenge of the Black Wolf (1981) Spain Fernando Allende

European films[link]

In addition to a variety of Zorro films, European producers also used a similar character called the Coyote.^[5]

• À la manière de Zorro/ In the Way of Zorro (1926) Belgium William Elie
• Il sogno di Zorro (1952) Italy Walter Chiari
• La montaña sin ley (1953) Spain José Suárez (Suárez is the first Spanish actor to play the role)
• Zorro alla corte di Spagna/Zorro at the Spanish Court (1962) Italy George Ardisson
• La venganza del Zorro/Zorro the Avenger (1962) Spain Frank Latimore
• L'ombra di Zorro/The Shadow of Zorro (1962) Italy, Spain & France Frank Latimore
• Le tre spade di Zorro/The Three Swords of Zorro (1963) Spain & Italy Guy Stockwell
• Zorro e i tre moschettieri/Zorro and the Three Musketeers (1963) Italy Gordon Scott
• Zorro contro Maciste/Samson and the Slave Queen (1963) Italy & Spain Pierre Brice
• Il segno di Zorro/Duel at the Rio Grande (1963) Spain, Italy & France Sean Flynn
• El Zorro cabalga otra vez/Behind the Mask of Zorro (1965) Italy & Spain Tony Russel
• Zorro il ribelle/Zorro the Rebel (1966) Italy Howard Ross
• El Zorro (1968) Italy & Spain George Ardisson
• I nipoti di Zorro/The Nephews of Zorro (1968) Italy Dean Reed (comedy with Franco & Ciccio)
• Zorro marchese di Navarra/Zorro, the Navarra Marquis (1969) Italy Nino Vingelli
• Zorro alla corte d'Inghilterra/Zorro in the Court of England (1969) Italy Spiros Focas
• El Zorro justiciero (1969) Italy & Spain Fabio Testi
• La última aventura del Zorro (1970) Spain & Italy Carlos Quiney
• El Zorro de Monterrey (1971) Spain & Italy Carlos Quiney
• Zorro il cavaliere della vendetta/Zorro, Rider of Vengeance (1971) Spain & Italy Carlos Quiney
• The Erotic Adventures of Zorro (1972) France, USA & West Germany Douglas Frey
• Les aventures galantes de Zorro (1972) France & Belgium Jean-Michel Dhermay
• Il figlio di Zorro/Son of Zorro (1973) Italy & Spain Alberto Dell'Acqua
• Le meravigliose avventure di Zorro (1974) Italy
• Il sogno di Zorro/Grandsons of Zorro (1975) Italy Franco Franchi
• Zorro (1975) Italy & France Alain Delon
• La marque de Zorro (1975) France Monica Swinn
• Ah sì? E io lo dico a Zzzzorro!/Mark of Zorro (1976) Italy & Spain George Hilton

The Coyote of "El Coyote" was a creation of Spanish novelist José Figuerola Mallorquí writing as Carter Mulford beginning with a novel of the same name in 1943.

• El coyote (1955) Spain & Mexico Act Odón Alonso
• La justicia del Coyote/Judgement of Coyote (1956) Spain & Mexico Odón Alonso
• Il segno del coyote/The Sign of the Coyote (1963) Italy & Spain Fernando Casanova
• La vuelta de El Coyote/The Return of El Coyote (1998) Spain José Coronado

Film serials[link]

• Zorro Rides Again (1937), with John Carroll as a modern-day descendant, James Vega
• Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), with Reed Hadley
• Zorro's Black Whip (1944), with Linda Stirling as an 1880s female descendent, The Black Whip
• Son of Zorro (1947), with George Turner
• Ghost of Zorro (1949), with Clayton Moore

Television[link]

• Zorro, a Walt Disney-produced half-hour television series, running from 1957 to 1959, and starring Guy Williams as Zorro. The two Guy Williams-starred features above were episode compilations, and there were two one-hour follow-ups on the Walt Disney anthology television series in the 1959–1960 TV season.
• The Mark of Zorro (1974), with Frank Langella, a made for television remake of the 1940 film
• The New Adventures of Zorro, 1981 animated series from Filmation.
• Zorro and Son, 1983
• Zorro (also known as The New Zorro or New World Zorro or Zorro 1990) was an early 1990s television series featuring Duncan Regehr. Regehr portrayed him for 88 episodes on The Family Channel from 1990 to 1993. Two feature length videos were episode compilations. It was shot entirely in Madrid, Spain.
• Kaiketsu Zorro (1996) Japanese anime version from NHK and Ashi Productions.
• The New Adventures of Zorro, 1997 animated series from Warner Bros..
• The Amazing Zorro, 2002 made for TV animated film created by DIC Entertainment. It premiered on television on Nickelodeon Sunday Movie Toons and was released on DVD and VHS shortly afterward by MGM Home Entertainment.
• Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa (The Sword and the Rose), a (2007) Spanish language telenovela from Sony Pictures and Telemundo, starring Peruvian actor Christian Meier as Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro and Marlene Favela as Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada. This was filmed in the colonial village of Villa de Leyva, Colombia.
• Zorro: Generation Z,^[6](2008) animated series follows a descendant of the original Zorro, also named Diego De La Vega, fighting crime and the corrupt government of Pueblo Grande in a future setting.
• Zorro, a 2009 TV series from the GMA Network of the Philippines. The lead role is portrayed by Richard Gutierrez^[7] with leading ladies Rhian Ramos, Bianca King, and Michelle Madrigal.

Audio/Radio Dramas[link]

• Disney Zorro: [1. Presenting Señor Zorro; 2. Zorro Frees The Indians; 3. Zorro And The Ghost; 4. Zorro's Daring Rescue] (1957) released by Disneyland Records/ Buena Vista Records release. These albums retold stories from the Disney Zorro television series and featured Guy Williams as Zorro and Don Diego, Henry Calvin as Sergeant Garcia, Phil Ross as Monastario, Jan Arvan as Torres, Jimmie Dodd from The Mickey Mouse Club as Padre Felipe, with other voices by Dallas McKennon and sound effects by Jimmy Macdonald and Eddie Forrest. Record story adaptations by Bob Thomas and George Sherman. Music composed and conducted by William Lava.
• The Adventures of Zorro. (1957) Based on the original Johnston McCulley story The Curse of Capistrano (aka The Mark of Zorro). It was written by Maria Little, directed by Robert M. Light and produced by Mitchell Gertz. This short-lived radio show was a series of short episodes. Only a handful of episodes are known to have survived.
• The Mark of Zorro. (1997) [No longer available] Produced by the BBC it starred Mark Arden as Zorro, Louise Lombard as Lolita and Glyn Houston as Friar Felipe. It aired in 5 parts. 1. July 3 97 Night of the Fox: 2. July 10 97 Deadly Reckonings: 3. July 17 97 The Avenging Blade 4. July 24 97 The Place of Skulls 5. July 31 97 The Gathering Storm
• Zorro and the Pirate Raiders. (2009) Based on the D.J. Arneson adaptation of Johnston McCulley's The Further Adventures of Zorro. Produced by Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. Published by Brilliance Audio. It features Kevin Cirone, Shonna McEachern, Hugh Metzler, J.T. Turner, Sam Donato, Joseph Zamperelli Jr., and Dan Powell.
• Zorro Rides Again. (2011) Based on the D.J. Arneson adaptation of Johnston McCulley's Zorro Rides Again. Produced by Colonial Theatre on the Air. It features the voice talents of Kevin Cirone, Jeremy Benson, Shonna McEachern, Shana Dirk, Sam Donato, and Hugh Metzler.
• The Mark of Zorro. (2011) The action adventure story that inspired a legend. Based on the original Johnston McCulley Zorro story The Curse of Capistrano (aka The Mark of Zorro). Produced by Hollywood Theater of the Ear for Blackstone Audio. Written and directed and co-produced by the multi-award winning Yuri Rasovsky. Executive Producers: John Gertz of Zorro Productions and Josh Stanton of Blackstone Audio. Associate Producer Daryl McCullough. It features the voice talents of Val Kilmer as Diego de la Vega/Zorro, Ruth Livier as Lolita Pulido, Elizabeth Peña as Doña Catalina Pulido, Armin Shimmerman as the Landlord, Mishach Taylor as Sgt Pedro Gonzalez, Keith Szarabajka as Cpt Ramone, Ned Schmidtke as Don Carlos Pulido, Scott Brick as the Governor, Stefan Rudnicki as Fray Felipe, Kristoffer Tabori as Don Alejando de la Vega, Philip Proctor as Don Audre, John Sloan as the Magistrado, and Gordo Panza in numerous roles.

Toys[link]

Due to the popularity of the Disney TV series, in 1958, The Topps Company produced an 88 card set featuring stills from that year's movie. The cards were rare and became collectors' items. In the same year the Louis Marx company released a variety of Zorro toys such as hats, swords, toy pistols and a playset with the Lido company also making plastic figures.

A major toy line based on the classic Zorro characters, motifs and styling, was released by Italian toy giant, Giochi Preziosi, master toy licensees of the property. The toy range was developed by Pangea Corporation and released worldwide in 2005 and featured action figures in various scales, interactive playsets and roleplaying items. New original characters were also introduced, including Senor Muerte, who served as a foil to Zorro.

In 2007, Brazilian toymaker Gulliver Toys licensed the rights to Zorro: Generation Z, which was co-developed by BKN and Pangea Corporation. The toy range was designed concurrent and in association with the animated program.

In 2011, US based collectibles company Triad Toys released a 12-inch Zorro action figure.

Comics[link]

Zorro has appeared in many different comic book series over the decades. One version was rendered by Alex Toth for Dell Comics in Four Color magazine starting in 1949 and appearing through the 1950s. Zorro was given his own title in 1959, which lasted 7 more issues and then was made a regular feature of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (also published by Dell) from #275 to #278. Gold Key Comics began a Zorro series in 1966, but, like their contemporaneous Lone Ranger series, it featured only material reprinted from the earlier Dell comics, and folded after 9 issues, in 1968. The character remained dormant for the next twenty years until it was revived by Marvel Comics in 1990, for a 12-issue tie-in with the Duncan Regehr television series Zorro. Many of these comics had Alex Toth covers.

Over the years, various English reprint volumes have been published. This include but are not limited to:

• Zorro In Old California Eclipse Books ISBN 978-0-913035-12-2
• Zorro The Complete Classic Adventures By Alex Toth. Volume One Image Comics 1998. ISBN 978-1-58240-014-3
• Zorro The Dailies - The First Year By Don McGregor, Thomas Yeates. Image Comics 2001. ISBN 1-58240-239-6

In 1993 Topps Comics published a 2-issue mini-series Dracula Versus Zorro followed by a Zorro series that ran 11 issues. Topps created Lady Rawhide, a spin-off from the Zorro stories, in two brief series. All of this was written by Don McGregor. He subsequently scripted a miniseries adaptation of The Mask of Zorro film for Dark Horse Comics.

A newspaper daily and Sunday strip were also published in the late 1990s. This was written by McGregor and rendered by Tom Yeates. Papercutz once published a Zorro series and graphic novels as well. This version is drawn in a manga style.

Dynamite Entertainment relaunched the character in 2008 with writer Matt Wagner first adapting Isabel Allende's novel before writing his own stories. The publisher also released an earlier unpublished tale called "Matanzas" by Don McGregor and artist Mike Mayhew.

The character also appeared in European comics and is universally beloved in Latin America, usually in licensed, translated reprints of American comics. In the Netherlands, Zorro was drawn by Hans G. Kresse for the weekly Pep.

Stage productions[link]

A musical titled Zorro opened in the West End in 2008. It is directed by Christopher Renshaw, choreographed by Rafael Amargo and features music from the band Gipsy Kings. Directed by Christopher Renshaw, Zorro features the choreography of flamenco dancer Rafael Amargo. The US premiere production took place in 2012 at Hale Centre Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, with other productions planned for Atlanta, Los Angeles, and a 40 city tour to include Broadway.

Music[link]

On the commercial release of the Zorro 1957 Disney TV series' Zorro theme, the lead vocal was by Henry Calvin, the actor who played Sergeant Garcia on the program. The song was written by Jimmy Dodd.

The Chordettes sang the single version of the song, complete with the "Sounds of the Z" and the clip clopping of Zorro's horse. The song hit Number 17 in 1958 according to the Billboard Charts.

Henri Salvador had a hit^{[citation needed]} in 1964 with the humorous song "Zorro est arrivé." It tells from a child's point of view how exciting it is whenever a villain threatens to kill a lady in the television series. But every time again, to his relief, the "great and beautiful" Zorro comes to the rescue. An early music video was made at the time.

Alice Cooper's 1982 album Zipper Catches Skin includes the song "Zorro's Ascent" which is about Zorro facing his death.

Computer and video games[link]

• Zorro (Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer game)^[8]
• The Mask of Zorro (1999), Game Boy Color
• The Shadow of Zorro (2001), PC, PlayStation 2
• The Destiny of Zorro, announced in 2008 for Wii
• Zorro: Quest for Justice (2009), Nintendo DS
• There is a Zorro themed poker machine available to play at most gaming establishments in Australia and New Zealand.

Copyright and trademark[link]

The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, is out of copyright

The copyright and trademark status of the Zorro character and stories has been disputed on occasion.

A company called Zorro Productions, Inc., asserts that it "controls the worldwide trademarks and copyrights in the name, visual likeness and the character of Zorro."^[9] It further states that "The unauthorized, unlicensed use of the name, character and/or likeness of 'Zorro' is an infringement and a violation of state and federal laws."^[10]

One such dispute was the 2001 case of Sony Pictures Entertainment v. Fireworks Ent. Group.^[11] On January 24, 2001, Sony Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Zorro Productions, Inc. sued Fireworks Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, and Mercury Entertainment, claiming that the Queen of Swords television series infringed upon the copyrights and trademarks of Zorro and associated characters. Sony and TriStar had paid licensing fees to Zorro Productions, Inc., related to the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro. Queen of Swords was a 2000–2001 television series set in Spanish California during the early 19th century and featuring a protagonist who wore a black costume with a red sash demonstrating many aspects of the Zorro character including the swordfighting skills of the rapier and dagger, the dagger in the boot, use of a whip and Bolas, and horse riding skills.

Zorro Productions, Inc., argued that it owned the copyright to the original character because Johnston McCulley assigned his Zorro rights to Mitchell Gertz in 1949. Gertz died in 1961 and his estate transferred to his children, who created Zorro Productions, Inc. Fireworks Entertainment argued that the original rights had already been transferred to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in 1920 and provided documents showing this was legally affirmed in 1929, and also questioned whether the copyright was still valid.

The court ruled that "since the copyrights in The Curse of Capistrano and The Mark of Zorro lapsed in 1995 or before, the character Zorro has been in the public domain".^[12] Judge Collins also stated that: "Plaintiffs' argument that they have a trademark in Zorro because they licensed others to use Zorro, however, is specious. It assumes that ZPI had the right to demand licenses to use Zorro at all."

However, in 2002, Judge Collins vacated her ruling rendering it null and void. The action was dismissed pursuant to a settlement between the parties. ^[13]

In another legal action in 2010, Zorro Productions, Inc., sued Mars, Incorporated, makers of M&M's chocolate candies, and ad agency BBDO Worldwide over a commercial featuring a Zorro-like costume.^[14] The case was settled with "each party shall bear its own costs incurred in connection with this action, including its attorney’s fees and costs" on August 13, 2010.^[15].

Popular culture[link]

Texas Tech's The Masked Rider is similar to Zorro

• Bob Kane has credited Zorro as part of the inspiration for the Batman.^[16] Like Zorro, Bruce Wayne is affluent, the heir of wealth built by his parents. His everyday persona encourages others to think of him as shallow, foolish and uncaring to throw off suspicion. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again both include multiple Zorro references including the Batman inscribing a Z on a defeated foe.
• Zorro's black mask, cape and gaucho hat have been adopted by mascots at University of California Santa Barbara (Gauchos), University of San Francisco, Texas Tech University and Edward S. Marcus High School.
• Puss in Boots, the cat in the Shrek film series and central character of a 2011 film of his own,^{[citation needed]} was based both on the fairy tale character of the same name and on Zorro. The character was voiced by Antonio Banderas, the actor who portrayed Zorro in The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. At one point the cat uses his sword to scratch a "P" on his victim, a parody of Zorro's trademark move.
• In the 1999 episode of The Simpsons "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" Zorro was featured in a parody of a blatantly historically inaccurate movie called The Poke Of Zorro, culminating in a glove-slap to the Scarlet Pimpernel, the winning of King Arthur's crown, and a hip-hop tune with the lyric "The Z to the O to the double-R O, he's the dude in the mask from the barrio."

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zorro Productions, Inc.
• A comprehensive guide to the New World Zorro television series
• Zorro The Musical 2008
• A guide to the Walt Disney television series version of Zorro
• Zorro at the Internet Movie Database

Diego Della Valle
Diego Della Valle speaking (2003)
Born	(1953-12-30) December 30, 1953 (age 58) Sant'Elpidio a Mare, Italy
Residence	Cassette d'Ete
Alma mater	University of Bologna
Known for	Managing Director of Tod's
Spouse	Barbara Pistilli
Children	Children from first marriage: Emmanuelle Children with Barbara: Filippo
Parents	Father: Dorino Della Valle
Relatives	Siblings: Gisella, Andrea

Diego Della Valle (born 30 December 1953 on Sant'Elpidio a Mare) is the President and CEO of the Italian leather goods company, Tod's.

Biography[link]

Diego Della Valle is the older son of Dorino Della Valle and grandson of Filippo Della Valle. Filippo started his shoemaking business in the 1920s, which Diego expanded into the now famous Tod's brand.^[1][2][3]

In his younger days, Diego studied Law in the University of Bologna, but abandoned the career and launched himself into the marketing of the family's shoemaking business. Even during his younger days, he was business savvy. He used the power of celebrity to popularise his product, such an example was when he persuaded his friend Luca di Montezemolo, who was a protégé of Gianni Agnelli, to present the Agnelli with a pair of Tod's driving moccasins. He got Agnelli, the then FIAT boss, to wear Tod's shoes when attending Juventus football matches, which were widely televised. This product placement prompted a spike in sales.^[1][2][3]

Della Valle now manages Tod's with his brother Andrea. Diego's son, Emmanuelle, is also involved with the family business as the creative director. The factory in Cassette d'Ete was designed by his wife, Barbara.^[3][2]

Diego Della Valle vs. Silvio Berlusconi[link]

Della Valle has publicly attacked Berlusconi for the over-taxing of big business and his failure to support smaller Italian business. Berlusconi, on the other hand, has talked of suing Della Valle for defamation.^[1][3]

Other interests[link]

Della Valle sits on the board of a number of companies, such as Ferrari, Maserati, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and LVMH. He bought the Tuscan football club, Fiorentina, in 2002.^[1][3]

References[link]

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