El Humanismo italiano: Un capítulo de la cultura europea entre Petrarca y Valla (review)

Italian humanism, which, most scholars concur, ushered in the modern age, has been the subject of numerous studies since the second half of the nineteenth century when the German scholar Georg Voigt first acknowledged it as an important historical era. Cappelli's El humanismo italiano constitutes yet another consideration of this pivotal cultural movement. The work consists of an introduction, which treats the scholarship of Petrarch, and three lengthy parts, which address, respectively, the humanism of Florence, Rome, and Venice; that of Milan, Ferrara, Bologna, and Naples; and the literary production of Alberti and Valla.

By examining Petrarch's numerous works and by giving special emphasis to his philological achievements and to his pursuit of classical ideals, Cappelli concludes that this distinguished scholar was the founder of Italian humanism. He goes on to observe that, in the early decades of the fifteenth century, followers of Petrarch introduced his humanistic tenets in the urban settings of Florence, Rome, and Venice, where they flourished markedly, exercising a profound influence on the intellectual life of these three important cultural centers. The humanism of these cities brought about a systematic reconstruction of classical culture and the prevalence, therefore, of a significant secularism as well as the establishment of an effective educational system, which was rooted in classical precepts and ideals, and a strong collaboration between the intellectual elite and the political hierarchy. By the mid-fifteenth century, humanism extended to Milan, Ferrara, Bologna, and Naples with much the same results. According to Cappelli, the fifteenth century saw the emergence of numerous accomplished humanists. None of them, however, matched the cultural sophistication and literary output of Alberti and Valla. Indeed, such was the originality and cosmopolitanism of these two scholars that he has found it necessary to dedicate the entire third part of the work to their intellectual accomplishments. In the distribution of the material, Cappelli bore in mind chronological and thematic criteria such as the implementation of new educational programs, the Council of Florence, and the introduction of Greek language and culture in Italy as well as the contribution of leading paradigmatic figures such as Salutati and Bruni.

El humanismo italiano makes very little use of primary sources. Indeed, the work is on the whole a synthesis of the literature on this important epoch produced in the last half century, with a preference for Italian scholars and for those foreign scholars who adhere most closely to the traditional perception of Italian humanism as a highly novel and original cultural movement. Indeed, Cappelli all but ignores the many studies on pre-Petrarchan humanism and makes no reference to the rich literature on the anti-Renaissance polemic, which questions not only the efficacy of Italian humanism, but its very existence. Such an approach makes for a fluid and readable work, but overlooks the thorny questions that have come to characterize the interpretation of Italian humanism in the last several years. To be sure Petrarch played a fundamental role in the formulation of Italian humanism. His primacy in this area has been acknowledged by distinguished scholars as well as by most humanists of the fifteenth century. Nevertheless, given the many engaging and valid studies on pre-Petrarchan humanism, studies that have antedated the origin of Italian humanism from the mid-fourteenth century (the age of Petrarch) to the second half of the thirteenth century (the era of Lovato dei Lovati), Cappelli's claim for a chronological primacy of the illustrious poet needs a better contextualization and a more forceful and sophisticated justification. How and why is Petrarch the founder of Italian humanism? A monograph on Italian humanism must take into consideration the current anti-Renaissance polemic, for acknowledgment of such a polemic sheds much light on the scholarly trends connected with this cultural movement as well as on the nature of the movement itself. Due perhaps to his reliance on secondary rather than...