Florence in the Time of the Medici: Public Celebrations, Politics, and Literature in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Florence in the Time of the Medici: Public Celebrations, Politics, and Literature in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth CenturiesOverview This collection presents eight articles by one of the most influential scholars of Florentine culture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Originally published in French, their insights into the relationship between artistic creativity, social realities, and political intentions have had a profound effect on scholarship on Renaissance Italian literature, spectacle, and culture. Michel Plaisance is professor emeritus from the University

Overview

This collection presents eight articles by one of the most influential scholars of Florentine culture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Originally published in French, their insights into the relationship between artistic creativity, social realities, and political intentions have had a profound effect on scholarship on Renaissance Italian literature, spectacle, and culture.

Michel Plaisance is professor emeritus from the University of Paris III - La Sorbonne Nouvelle, and is the founder of the Centre de Recherche Culture et société en Italie aux XVE, et XVIIE Siècles. His recent publications include L'Académie et le Prince: Culture et Politique à Florence au temps de Côme Ier et de François de Médicis (2004) and Antonfrancesco Grazzini dit Lasca (1505-1584). Écrire dans la Florence des Médicis (2005).

Nicole Carew-Reid received her doctorat in Italian Literature from the University of Paris VIII (Vincennes-Saint Denis) under the direction of Prof. Michel Plaisance. She is the author of Les fêtes florentines au temps de Lorenzo il Magnifico (1995) and is currently researching fifteenth-century Florentine women.

220 pp. 
ISBN: 978-0-7727-2036-8 softcover
Published: 2008

Contents

Introduction

1. Medici Carnivals from Lorenzo the Magnificent to Duke Francesco I
   2. Charles VIII’s Entry into Florence in November 1494
   3. Florence: Carnival in the Time of Savonarola
   4. 1496: Savonarola, Director of the Palm Sunday Procession
   5. The Cultural Policy of Cosimo I and the Annual Festivities in Florence from 1541 to 1550
   6. Literature and Censorship in Florence at the End of the Sixteenth Century: The Re-appearance of Censured Works
   7. Madness as an Identifier and a Means of Exclusion: Florentine Short Stories of the Sixteenth Century
   8. The Relationship Between City and Country in the Short Stories of Sacchetti, Sercambi and Sermini

Praise

“Michel Plaisance was one of the first to make extensive use of unpublished chronicles in the Florentine library to study religious and secular public display. His articles will be of particular value to students and practicing researchers.”
— Nerida Newbigin, University of Sydney

“Michel Plaisance has published some of the most innovative and influential scholarship in Italian studies of the past thirty-five years. His essays in English will have a tremendous impact on early modern studies across the disciplines.”
— Karen-Edis Barzman, Binghamton University

Reviews

Annali d’Italianistica, 26 (2008), pp. 496-498. Reviewed by Gianni Cicali.