and Pompone de Trivulce received a like distinction in 1535, when Etienne Dolet wrote for the occasion an ode in the purest Latin.
Lorenzo de' Medici says in one of his ballads:
Se tu vuo' appiccare un maio,
A qualcuna che tu ami. . . . .
In his day "Singing the May" was almost a trade; the country-folk flocked into Florence with their May trees and rustic instruments and took toll of the citizens. The custom continues along the Ligurian coast. At Spezia we have seen the boys come round on May-day piping and singing, and led by one, taller than the rest, who carries an Italian flag covered with garlands. The name of the master of the house before which they halt is introduced into a song that begins:
Siam venuti a cantar maggio,
Al Signore ——
Come ogn' anno usar si suole,
Nella stagion di primavera.
Since Chaucer, who loved so dearly the "May Kalendes" and the "See of the day," no one has celebrated them with a more ingenuous charm than the country lads of the island of Sardinia, who sing "May, May, be thou welcome, with all Sun and Love; with the Flower, and with the Marguerite." A Tuscan and a Pisan Rispetto may be taken as representative of Italian May-song:
'Twas in the Calends of the month of May,
I went into the garden for a flower,
A wild bird there I saw upon a spray,
Singing of love with skilled melodious power.
O little bird, who dost from Florence speed
Teach me whence loving doth at first proceed?
Love has its birth in music and in song,
To end, alas 1 to tears and grief belongs.
Era di maggio, se ben mi ricordo
Quando c'incominciammo a ben volere
Eran fiorite le rose dell'orto,
E le ciliege diventavan nere;
Ciliege nere e pere moscatelle,
Siete il trionfo delle donne belle
Ciliege nere e pere moscatate.
Siete il trionfo delle innamorate
Ciliege nere e pere moscatine,
Siete il trionfo delle piu belline.
