The poet in society: Francesco Berni and court life in Cinquecento Rome

Abstract

The focus of this paper is an idiosyncratic and little-known work which does not figure largely in "official" literary histories of the Italian sixteenth century. A full account of the genesis, the publication and the reception of Berni's Dialogo contra i poeti will, I believe, help to promote Berni from his somewhat marginal status towards centre-stage, to join the company of those who, according to received wisdom, are considered leading literary lights of the early decades of the sixteenth century: Ariosto, Aretino, Castiglione, Machiavelli.