Domenico Gilardoni (1798–1831) was an Italian opera librettist, most well known for his collaborations with the composers Vincenzo Bellini (his first work) and Gaetano Donizetti.
[1] Most of his early work was for the Teatro Nuovo, where his librettos contained much prose and often included comic roles in Neapolitan dialect.
The title Bianca e Fernando had to be changed, because Ferdinando was the name of the heir to the throne, and no form of it could be used on a royal stage.
[2] For a later production, which was planned to open the new Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa on 7 April 1828, Bellini substantially altered the music and specifically rejected a request by Gilardoni to revise the libretto himself, preferring instead Felice Romani, whom he regarded as the superior poet.
[2] Gilardoni first worked with Donizetti at the Teatro Nuovo, writing the libretto for Otto mesi in due ore ("Eight Months in Two Hours") which premiered on 13 May 1827.