| Saggi e testimonianze | |
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Giuseppe Marcellino, Edonismo e parodia nel Rinascimento. Modelli letterari e antimodelli culturali dell’epistola ‘de balneis’ di Poggio Bracciolini |
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| Abstract. – This paper offers a new interpretation of Poggio’s famous letter de balneis (1416) through an analysis of several often-overlooked humanistic sources. In the first part, examining the intertextual relationships between Leonardo Bruni’s Oratio Heliogabali ad meretrices (1408) and Poggio’s work, the author states that the former should be considered the main literary model for the latter. The second part sheds light on Niccolò Niccoli’s Florentine circle as well as on the influence of Epicurean philosophy on Bruni’s and Lorenzo Valla’s works. The third part examines Francesco Barbaro’s De re uxoria (1416) and shows to what extent Poggio’s description of the baths of Baden could be considered a parody of rules and behaviors that were widely accepted in Italy at the time. | |
| Laura Daniela Quadrelli, «Scriptura: la cosa che scrivemo […] item per lo stilo che se usa in scrivere»: osservazioni sugli autografi di Ambrogio da Calepio | 49 |
| Abstract. – The article provides an overview of the autographs by Ambrogio da Calepio, friar and lexicographer from Bergamo. Starting from an analysis of the note at the end of the first paper of the ms. Bergamo, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai (BCAM), MAB 38, which is traditionally believed to be autograph and contains a translation in vernacular of the friar’s Latin Dictionarium, it is possible to also identify as autographs the first quire of MAB 38 and the two manuscripts of the Dictionarium (ms. Milano, Archivio storico civico e Biblioteca Trivulziana, Triv. 833 and ms. Bergamo, BCAM, MAB 39). In addition, six notes in a copy of the first edition of the Dictionarium, Bergamo, BCAM, Cinq 6 579, and in one document of the Mantuan notary Onofrio Zaita, are also identified as autographs. Comparisons between the different phases of Ambrogio’s writing (at the beginning firm and certain, but later increasingly disjointed and uncertain) and between the definitions of several terms in both the handwritten and printed versions of Dictionarium allow several observations on the process and timing of the vocabulary’s creation, leading to the hypothesis that MAB 39 was the original dictionary for both the 1502 and 1520 editions. | |
| Annalisa Cappiello, I filosofi e la ‘lex’. Pietro Pomponazzi, Ludovico Boccadiferro e le misure censorie del 1513 | 87 |
| Abstract. – The Lateran bull Apostolici regiminis (19 December 1513) – which obliged professors of philosophy to expound the truth of the Christian faith – is nowadays considered one of the founding documents of inquisitorial law. This ecclesiastic measure was based on a twofold epistemic criterion, which joined the principle of the authority of the Holy Scriptures with the principle of non-contradiction: any assertion contrary to the truth of the Scriptures should be considered not only heretical, but also completely false. What did it mean to be a professor of natural philosophy after the Apostolici regiminis? Did the professors apply the idea of concordism prescribed by the bull? And if they did not, were they able to claim the consistency of their own theoretical positions? This article attempts to answer these questions by examining some of the topics developed by Pietro Pomponazzi and by his student and successor to the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Bologna from 1527, Ludovico Boccadiferro | |
| Francesco Molinarolo, Pomponazzi e Machiavelli, ‘Pomponatistae’ e ‘Macchiavellistae’: teoria dello Stato e ‘impostura delle religioni’ | 105 |
| Abstract. – Two of the most influential philosophers of the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Pomponazzi and Niccolò Machiavelli, display a radical idea of religious phenomena, whose utilitarian function they theorize in order to establish the political body and to pursue the ethical integrity of the people. Although Pomponazzi and Machiavelli stem from different philosophical backgrounds, this essay shows that it is possible to assume that they shared some common sources, and possibly even direct knowledge of each other, which could explain their similarities. Moreover, since the affinity between Pomponazzi and Machiavelli was noticed and discussed soon after their deaths, this essay offers a concise presentation of the history of these philosophers’ reception, in order to support the thesis of a fundamental proximity between some of their ideas. | |
| Daniela Travagliante, Roma 1529: Benvenuto Cellini. Precisazioni sulle monete | 157 |
| Abstract. – The paper offers a comprehensive reassessment of the numismatic images engraved by Benvenuto Cellini, with an in-depth focus on the two gold double-ducats of Clement VII created between 1529-30, for the Papal Mint of Rome. Starting with a detailed analysis of the first coin with the pope’s portrait on the obverse and on the reverse with a figure of Christ accompanied by the words «Ecce Homo», the text explores the arrangement of visual and verbal elements in the coin’s field, and examines the range of sources on which the goldsmith drew (Roman imperial coins, byzantine icons, sculptural effigies on tomb slabs, devotional images of the ‘Man of Sorrows’) to convey a clear and unequivocal meaning through the image of the Ecce Homo. Associating this image with Clement’s effigy in the light of a shared visual culture, Cellini’s work reveals the profound implications expressed by the figure of Christ, and its effectiveness. From here, the Ecce Homo can be considered an ‘impresa’ that responds to the logic of a conscious political action: through this image, Clemente aimed to identify himself as a political actor, through and beyond the tragic events of the Sack of Rome, claiming a central role for himself on the international scene. | |
| Testi e commenti | |
| David Speranzi, Scritture, libri e uomini all’ombra di Bessarione. II. La ‘doppia mano’ di Atanasio Calceopulo | 193 |
| Abstract. – This paper offers a paleographic, codicological and historical study of the manuscripts written and annotated by Athanasius Chalkeopoulos, member of Bessarion’s Gelehrtenkreis | |
| Note e varietà | |
| Gian Carlo Garfagnini, Savonarola tra profezia e politica | 241 |
| Abstract. – Any reading of Savonarola’s prophetic preaching, particularly regarding the years 1494-1498, should highlight the unbreakable bond between religious faith and politics, between faith in God’s promises of salvation and a practical life devoted to the common good. This bond is also found in his last works, «in limine mortis»: the Trattato sul governo di Firenze and the Commentary to the Psalms Miserere and In te, Domine, speravi. | |
| Gio Maria Tessarolo, Ordini e virtù: gli «uomini eccellenti» in Machiavelli | 257 |
| Abstract. – This article analyzes the key role played by exceptional individuals («uomini eccellenti») in Machiavelli’s political thought. According to both Principe and Discorsi, a positive outcome of most crucial turning points in the life of a body politic, from its founding to its corruption, can only stem from extreme and extraordinary actions, which in turn require extraordinary individuals; this turns out to be especially true for republics, which the Discorsi clearly indicate as the best form of government. The article presents this double perspective of the extraordinary individual moment and the ordinary collective one through the various phases of the life of the State, linking it to Machiavelli’s ontological and naturalistic conceptions: in an ever-changing and unstable world of constant corruption, only through a dialectic relationship between the one and the many can the State thrive and enjoy a long, virtuous life. | |
| Stefania Pastore, Frontiere di giustizia nell’Impero spagnolo: le avventure transatlantiche di Agostino Boasio | 283 |
| Abstract. – The essay focuses on the frontiers of justice in the Spanish Empire as seen in the ‘outsider’ career of Italian merchant Agostino Boasio. Boasio was first arrested in 1558 at Zacatecas, on the northern frontier of Mexico, for distributing heretical books and disseminating heretical ideas. He was condemned and sent to serve his sentence in Spain. However, during the sea voyage to Castile, he took advantage of a last stop in the Azores to escape. Thereafter, the Seville inquisitors pursued him relentlessly throughout Europe. In Antwerp the Boasio affair became the object of a harsh dispute between Philip II and the town authorities immediately before the 1567 revolt. He died in London in 1571. In 1569 his refusal to subscribe to the strict Confession of Faith of the French Church led to his exclusion from the community of London refugees. Boasio’s incredible, almost novelistic adventures can be reconstructed through six Inquisitorial and judicial trials and by Philip II’s numerous letters about the case. | |
| Andrea Suggi, «E già la statua di Daniele è finita». Profezia e monarchia universale in Tommaso Campanella | 317 |
| Abstract. – When Tommaso Campanella wrote his Monarchy of Spain in 1598, and later his Monarchy of France in 1636, the political concept of universal monarchy might appear anachronistic, along with the prophetic concept of history based on the biblical Book of Daniel. However, both these ideas appear in Campanella’s works as important concepts of modern political thinking. After the discovery of the New World, all histories became as one, as prefigured in Holy Scriptures. Religious wars in Europe were signs of the beginning of the new times, when the Last Reign would come. Campanella originally balances theological and prophetic arguments with a highly informed political analysis, and identifies first Spain, then France as the last historical Universal Monarchy | |
| Discussioni | |
| Alessio Panichi, Spazzolare il mito contropelo. Alcune osservazioni a proposito di un recente volume su Leonardo da Vinci | 347 |
| Abstract. – In this critical review, the author discusses the book Leonardo da Vinci on Nature. Knowledge and Representation, edited by Fabio Frosini and Alessandro Nova, and published in 2015 by Marsilio. As the outcome of a conference held in March 2013 at the Kunsthistorisches Institut, the book is divided into four sections and contains thirteen essays, written by some of the most renowned experts on Leonardo da Vinci’s thinking. More specifically, the author focuses on those essays that help reexamine and reassess the relationship between Leonardo’s works and thought and Renaissance culture, a relationship that plays a key role in the long-standing history of Leonardo scholarship. In doing so, the author is driven by the desire to point out that such essays, however different they may be, contribute to putting Leonardo’s reflections on humanity and nature into historical perspective. In other words, these essays cast light on both the lines of continuity and the rifts existing between Leonardo da Vinci and some 15th- and 16th-century patterns of thought. | |
| Variazioni | |
| Gregorio Piaia, L’Utopia di Thomas More, tra ‘iocus serius’ e messaggio universale | 371 |
| Abstract. – Thomas More is commonly regarded as the initiator of modern utopian literature, centered on aspirations to a radical renewal of human society. Indeed, if viewed in the cultural context of its time, i.e., the sodalitas Erasmiana, Utopia is revealed to be primarily an original reply to The Praise of Folly. Thus, More denounces the foolish behaviors of Christian Europe of his time and contrasts them with the ‘foolish’ project of a society without knowledge of the Christian religion but capable of putting into practice its principles, thus overcoming the harmful effects of pride, the first deadly sin, which can be directly traced to the sin of Adam and Eve. A deeper analysis of the long letter by Erasmian humanist scholar Guillaume Budé to Thomas Lupset – added as a preface to the second edition of Utopia (Paris 1517) – confirms and supports this interpretation of Utopia, a work containing ‘earnest’ references to Erasmus’s philosophia Christi intertwined with several ironic (especially self-ironic) remarks, which may escape the notice of an inexpert reader. | |
| Gennaro Maria Barbuto, «Eccellentissimi» principi | 383 |
| Abstract. – The paper explores the strong relationship between realism and utopian tension in Machiavelli’s thought. The Florentine Secretary analyzes the «verità effettuale» of human events. As he affirms in Chapter VI of Il Principe, his attention is drawn to «grandissimi esempli», both ancient (Mosè, Romolo, Licurgo) and modern (Cesare Borgia). The utopian tension is demonstrated by the metaphor of the arrow and the arch. This tension is not imaginary, but is subject to the necessity and the contradictions of reality. These factors compel a passage into evil in order to achieve good. Machiavelli’s thought is characterized by an oxymoronic logic that is also distinctive of the tragic Renaissance, from Alberti to Pico della Mirandola, Erasmo or Ariosto. | |
| Marie-Luce Demonet, La fin de l’utopie chez Rabelais | 395 |
| Abstract. – Rabelais was one of the first admirers and users of Thomas More’s Utopia in France, since he locates Gargantua’s kingdom (and previously, that of Grandgousier) in Utopia, a country he does not describe, although it shares with More’s island an ideal of magnanimity and capacity for happiness. The Utopian dream is still visible in his last novel, the Fourth Book, in spite of its series of obviously dystopic islands, especially the two last ones, Chaneph and Ganabins. Chaneph shows that Rabelais, as well as More, was aware of the Machiavellian principle of eliminating rebel leaders, a method reflected in the allegory Pantagruel narrates, the story of Tarquin’s poppies. | |
| Pasquale Terracciano, Progettare l’altrove. Una nota su inferni e utopie alla metà del Cinquecento | 407 |
| Abstract. – Anton Francesco Doni, who sponsored the vernacular version of Thomas More’s Utopia and was author of his own description of an ideal city, the Mondo savio e pazzo, played a fundamental role in the history of 16th-century debates on utopia. This essay reconstructs how images of utopian literature also appeared in Doni’s other work, the Inferni. The analysis focuses on the structure of the book and highlights several examples of textual and figurative parallelism. Starting from this examination, I will apply the same interpretative framework to the rise of utopic literature and the decline of descriptions of Hell in Western culture – two different traditions that share an attempt to imagine worlds turned upside down, alongside specific taxonomies of virtues and vices. | |
| Nicola Panichi, «Pays infini» e «pays au-delà»: spazio e tempo dell’altrove. Variazioni semantiche | 427 |
| Abstract. – Two main chapters (Des cannibales and De la vanité, although Des coches must also be included) serve as points of departure but also as cross-roads for all of Montaigne’s reflections on the theme of utopia, including the use of classical sources, especially Seneca. Montaigne appeals to the unprecedented experience of the New World, to an order of the real and existent unknown, in order to revive the concept of possibility and metamorphosis on the more general level of his own universal ontological idea. Thus he makes it one of the fundamental elements of an overall project for the deconstruction of dogmatic reason, with its cosmographical and anthropological, cosmological and universalistic, but above all – transversis itineribus – political clichés. | |
| Saverio Ricci, Lontano da Utòpia. Il Dialogo politico contro luterani, calvinisti e altri eretici di Tommaso Campanella | 447 |
| Abstract. – Campanella wrote the Dialogue against Lutherans, Calvinists and other heretics hoping to favorably impress the ecclesiastical authorities, immediately after his confinement to the Aventine in 1595. The Dialogo, rarely studied and in a precarious editorial state, contains essential early references to fundamental issues of Campanellian speculation: the connection between Christianity and natural law, and therefore the good politics it inspires; using but also surpassing Machiavelli; the celebration of a (transfigured) universal papal monarchy; and the political role of religious orders in the end times of history. A different reading of the Dialogue could lead scholars to seek the origin of fundamental themes of Campanella’s utopian thought (later fully developed in Città del Sole) not only in the failure of the conspiracy of 1599 and the philosopher’s consequent disillusionment. | |
| Valentina Serio, ‘Other worlds and happy isles’: elementi utopici nel Paradise Lost di John Milton | 467 |
| Abstract. – This paper aims to explore the possibility of finding utopian tracts in Milton’s representation of Hell in Paradise Lost. First, I propose a brief analysis of the Scientific Revolution’s influence upon Milton’s utopic imaginary and its relation to the idea of a multiplicity and alterity of worlds, subsequently examining his appropriation of the utopic genre, including Thomas More’s Utopia. Next, I focus on certain elements that characterize the Hell in Paradise Lost as a tragic utopia: among the devils, in fact, civic values such as social harmony and a republican order exist. I suggest that Milton creates this paradoxical representation of Hell in order to effect a polemic comparison between human and infernal societies. | |
| Luisa Brotto, Pierre Bayle e le repubbliche ideali | 483 |
| Abstract. – This essay aims to examine Pierre Bayle’s views on utopian literature. Although he did not write any utopian texts, many passages from his writings show that Bayle had read many works concerning ideal republics as well as accounts by missionaries in the Far East. Utopias are often criticized by Bayle, who considered them a consequence of Platonic philosophy: according to Bayle, both utopias and Platonism share the same tendency to focus on groundless ideals, instead of understanding reality. However, Bayle also appears to hold that some utopias can be useful. In his Dictionnaire historique et critique he admits that utopian works of the late 17th century, such as those of Joseph Hall, Denis Veiras and Gabriel Foigny, express controversial content in a non-scandalous way, since they refer to the remotest corners of the Earth and describe imaginary people, whose laws and religions are fictitious. | |
| Maurizio Cambi, Gli accessi negati all’utopia. Esclusi e respinti nelle comunità ideali moderne | 505 |
| Abstract. – The inhabitants of modern utopias enjoy outstanding living conditions such as temperate climate, fertile land, good governance, and so on. These circumstances contribute significantly to their happiness. They therefore stoutly defend their privilege – guarding harbors, raising walls and building battlements, and policing access points. The usual sorts of individuals are denied entrance: good-for-nothings, sinners, criminals of all kinds. However, during the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, a further category of ‘undesirables’ was added to the list: those who adhere to a religion other than that professed by the citizens of the ideal community | |
| Archivio | |
| Eugenio Garin a Paolo Facchi, 28 dicembre 1957 | 523 |
| Indice dei manoscritti | 527 |
| Indice dei nomi | 531 |
Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento – Firenze