Court Cultures of the Middle Ages and Renaissance – serie

The Economics of Poetry takes an innovative approach to the genre of Neo-Latin poetry, encompassing the entire process of poetic production, from composition and physical realization to the formal presentation to the honorand. This process was not predicated upon post-Romantic ideas of inspiration and originality, but rather upon the need to produce literary works in a timely fashion, often (though not exclusively) dependent upon the realities and exigencies of the contemporary political situation.

Applying this approach across more than three centuries of literary production, this volume analyses the techniques employed and developed by authors all around the world to reduce the effort of poetic composition, streamline its production and facilitate its presentation when time was a crucial factor in success. To reveal the efficient techniques which authors employed in order to meet their deadlines, each essay focuses on a variety of works by the same writer and examines the full context of their production. The re-use and recycling of previous texts and rhetorical templates and even the re-dedication of previously presented manuscripts emerges as a central and essential modus operandi in response to the strict dictates of fast production.

The Orsini of Bracciano were among the most powerful and influential signori di castelli of early modern Italy, controlling a vast domain that stretched from the Tyrrehenian Sea to the mountains of Abruzzo. This book explores the construction and decoration of their principal headquarters north of Rome between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as the careers and artistic patronage of its leaders, who included captains, condottieri, cardinals and urban aristocrats. The castle is one of the largest in Latium and was once a centre of courtly culture and diplomacy, hosting princes, kings and popes. Today it boasts many beautifully preserved artworks of the Renaissance era, including frescos by Antoniazzo Romano and the Zuccari brothers.

The contributors to this study investigate the castle as a visual expression of the family identity of its builders. They trace its evolution from the fortified capital of a large fiefdom at the dawn of the age of artillery to the palatial residence of a ducal dynasty in the aftermath of the Italian Wars. Richly illustrated with numerous historic and new photographs, this book analyses a fascinating and mostly neglected facet of early modern Italian culture: the artistic patronage of seigniorial clans.

Lo studio rilegge il teatro in volgare del Quattrocento concentrandosi sulle corti padane di Mantova, Ferrara e Milano. L’esame complessivo dei tre centri permette di «fare sistema», di delineare una storia unitaria delle rappresentazioni quattrocentesche, che alimentano le richieste elative, ideologiche, encomiastiche e politiche della committenza signorile. Partendo da una prospettiva ampia – che tiene insieme letteratura, spettacolo e filologia – si dà conto di uno spaccato avvincente, ma poco conosciuto, dell’Italia rinascimentale. Il saggio opera altresì precise distinzioni tra opere di raffinata elaborazione – che hanno svolto un ruolo di paradigm imprescindibile e sono da accogliere a pieno titolo tra i capolavori della civiltà letteraria quattrocentesca (in particolare l’Orpheo, il Cefalo, il Timone, la Pasitea) – e altre meno significative da un punto di vista estetico, ma organiche al progetto cortigiano. Infine, lo spazio privilegiato concesso alla fabula mantovana di Poliziano, che esercita sul teatro padano un’attrazione assoluta, è segno di una precisa scelta storiografica: il libro descrive un panorama culturale davvero mosso nelle sue spinte progettuali, nei suoi laboriosi tentativi, tra ibridismo e duttilità, di confrontarsi con un nuovo genere letterario.