Aldo Castellani, ed. Nuovi canti carnascialeschi di Firenze. Le “canzone” e mascherate di Alfonso de’ Pazzi. Firenze: Olschki Editore, 2006. Pp. 295.`(Bookreview)

Abstract

Alfonso de’ Pazzi (1509-55) was one of the members of the Accademia Fiorentina and the literary scene of sixteenth-century Florence who has remained virtually neglected during the twentieth century. When scholars did refer to him, it was mainly because of his fame as a prolific writer of poems mocking Benedetto Varchi, the renowned lecturer of the Accademia Fiorentina and a prominent figure among men of letters and science. So stinging were these attacks that Varchi’s biographer Umberto Pirotti even calls Pazzi a “mignatta” (Benedetto Varchi e la cultura del suo tempo, Firenze: 1971, 29). This rather unflattering characterization has been typical of the poet’s reputation for several decades. Only recently has scholarly interest in Alfonso de’ Pazzi increased, and he has become an object of study in his own right. This newly found appreciation will undoubtedly be encouraged by Giorgio Masi’s recent find of new autographs in the Archivio di Stato of Florence. Aldo Castellani’s edition of Pazzi’s carnival songs contributes to the poet’s reputation as well. His collection, the first modern edition of Pazzi’s work, establishes Pazzi’s pre-eminence in the Florentine cultural scene of the 1540s and 1550s...