Le dimore dei letterati e il loro corredo epigrafico fra Quattro e Cinquecento

Abstract

The essay examines the function of epigraphical decorations in the houses built by some of the most prominent Italian men of letters active between 1450 and 1550: Pontano, Rota and Sannazaro in Naples, Ficino in Florence, Trissino in Vicenza, Ariosto in Ferrara and Giovio in Como. While demonstrating that these dwellings were specifically conceived and used as the homes of men of letters, it also points out a growing reluctance over time to apply inscriptions in their decoration, particularly in the design of the exteriors. This may be connected to the functions of such houses, partly intended to host learned conversations which were stimulated not exclusively by written texts but also by various kinds of material items. This practice could enhance the categorising of their literary dwellers as ‘poeta faber’, thus adding to self-fashioning strategies designed to highlight the versatile talents of these men of letters.