The Italian Academies: 1525–1700. Networks of Culture, Innovation and Dissent

Abstract

Recensioni / Book Reviews / Revues des Livres -265 -and jousting; thus, diplomatic reports are a good source to better understand games and leisure activities in the Renaissance.In conclusion, this book has a lot to teach to both English-speaking and Italian-speaking readers, since it deals with topics that are not often taught, even in Italian universities, and nevertheless underlie all the Italian Early Modern political systems.Scholars study kings and dukes, wars and peace treaties, the Camera Picta of Mantua, etc., but not what makes all this work: ambassadors and diplomacy.Such a particular point of view actually has very wide repercussions, that are highlighted here with acumen by the subdivision into sections and chapters, which show all the links and implications that diplomacy has with other disciplines, such as history of crime, art, architecture, clothing, language, women studies, literature, religion, language, and material culture: everything has something to do with letters and ambassadors.Obviously, it would have been useful to have the original texts next to the translation, but it is easy to imagine the editorial reasons for this exclusion.I am left with the wish that the book had explored further the sixteenth century, so that readers could understand if and how the ambassador's role changed with the decay of the Italian courts, the wars between Charles V and Francis I, and the sack of Rome.

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