Nicoletto da Torino was a Piedmontese jongleur and troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 of the first half of the thirteenth century, probably from Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, though some believe that to be his father's name. He produced three surviving tenso

Tenso

A tenso is a style of Occitan song favoured by the troubadours. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position on a topic relating to love or ethics. Closely related genres include the partimen and the cobla exchange...

s with Joan d'Albusson, Falquet de Romans

Falquet de Romans

Falquet de Romans was the most famous troubadour attached to the court of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, where he garnered a high reputation despite the fact that his career began as a jongleur...

, and Uc de Saint Circ

Uc de Saint Circ

Uc de Saint Circ or Hugues de Saint Circq was a troubadour from Quercy. Uc is perhaps most significant to modern historians as the probable author of several vidas and razos of other troubadours, though only one of Bernart de Ventadorn exists under his name...

.

Nicoletto is probably the same person as the "Nicolet" who appears in a list of jongleurs in Li fol e.il put e.il filol, a sirventes

Sirventes

The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type...

of Aimeric de Peguilhan

Aimeric de Peguilhan

Aimeric or Aimery de Peguilhan, Peguillan, or Pégulhan was a troubadour , born in Peguilhan the son of a cloth merchant....

, which was written at the Malaspina court, probably in or around 1220. Chronologically such an identification is possible based on Nicoletto's surviving works and the references they contain. Based on his tenso with Falquet, Nicoletto evidently travelled in Burgundy, where he found the people annoying, and returned to Italy to the court of Biandrate

Biandrate

Biandrate is a comune in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 km northeast of Turin and about 12 km west of Novara.-History:...

.

Nicoletto also exchanged verses with Uc de Saint Circ. These lamented the fact that Adelaide di Vidalliana (today Viadana) had not been received with as much honour as Donella di Brescia and Selvaggia (perhaps Selvaggia d’Auramala, daughter of Conrad I Malaspina). This tenso has been customarily dated to c. 1225, when it is known Selvaggia was in the flower of youth.