Atti del Convegno di Studi Gian Matteo Giberti (1495–1543) ed. by Marco Agostini and Giovanna Baldissin Molli (review)

This volume, which is enriched by numerous images, collects the proceedings of the congress that was held at Verona on December 2–3, 2009, to reassess the figure of the reforming bishop Gian Matteo Giberti in close correlation with the overall experiences of the sixteenth century.

Giberti was invested with major positions in the Roman Curia during the pontificates of Leo X and Clement VII. However, he was suspected of heterodoxy and was part of the Roman Oratory of Divino Amore. His pro-French policies did not sit well after the Sack of Rome by imperial troops in 1527, and he also was affected by the new political orientations resulting from the meeting between the pope and the emperor in Bologna in 1529. He settled in his Diocese of Verona and became the protagonist of reform plans for the Church, ranging from diocesan-level activity to the reconstruction of episcopal authority and leaving an indelible mark on spiritual life.

As emphasized by Danilo Zardin in his Introduzione, the volume shows the complexity of a leading figure in the policies of the Roman Church and the construction of the ideal figure of the bishop of the Counter-Reformation, particularly in his use of pastoral visiting. Giberti’s Constitutiones (Verona, 1542) exerted considerable influence at the Council of Trent as well as in the work of St. Carlo Borromeo.

Adriano Prosperi, in “Gian Matteo Giberti e la politica della «libertà d’Italia»,” reminds us of Giberti’s crucial role in the policy that led to the drafting of the League of Cognac and the subsequent failure of the whole plan. He also is notable as the man who kept the door of the Catholic Church open to Desiderius Erasmus.

The deep difference between the two often compared reformist bishops—Giberti and Borromeo—is significant. Apart from the diversity and incomparability of the times in which they lived, a greater difference arises from their actions as diocesan bishops—the result of a political defeat for Giberti and the result of a free choice for Borromeo.

Whereas Gabriella Zarri, in “I circoli spirituali femminili della riforma,” discusses the spiritual groups of women in her presentation of the Constitutioni for the nuns of Giberti, Zardin, in “Gian Matteo Giberti nel contesto europeo,” takes us back to the European religious and political situation and the contacts with the Protestant Reformation. There are numerous as well as significant contributions on Giberti’s role in fostering artistic production and Giberti’s relationship with the world of the literati and the humanists such as Pietro Aretino. New and useful information is supplied on the figure of Tullio Crispoldi and on Giberti’s influence on the works of Nicolò Ormaneto. As Zardin underlines, Giberti’s life exemplifies a love for the Scriptures, the development of biblical studies, a liturgical renewal, and the valorization of local church institutions gathered around their bishop.

Ultimately, this volume is a useful contribution that provides, thanks to its numerous as well as diverse papers, an up-to-date and comprehensive summary of Giberti’s work and his role in the broader world of early-sixteenth-century Europe.