Pseudonym of Tommaso Guardati Tommaso Guardati (1410-1475) was an Italian poet. Born in Salerno or Sorrento, he is best known today for Il Novellino, a collection of 50 short stories. The stories have a strongly anti-clerical bent, which caused Il Novellino to be included in the first Index of Prohibited Books in 1557. The 33rd story is the tale of Mariotto and Ganozza, apparently adapted by Luigi da Porto (1485–1529) first as "Giulietta e Romeo" and later as "Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti" ("Newly retrieved story of two noble lovers"). These three stories, plus the later version by Matteo Bandello and the English translation by Arthur Brooke in the poem Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) appear to be the sources for Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.