Riccardo Magli
Riccardo Magli
The De Otio Religioso by Francesco Petrarca. Textual reconstruction, commentary, and humanistic circulation
The research project, focused on the De Otio Religioso, aims to study Petrarch’s work from its origins to its circulation in the humanistic era. Apparently of secondary importance among the author’s Latin works, the De Otio synthesizes Petrarch’s position as a 'Christian humanist,' balancing patristic readings with pagan sources, starting from the very concept in the title, while the path of monasticism—understood as contemplative solitude—lends itself to methodological and autobiographical echoes. After attempting to reconstruct the text of De Otio by thoroughly examining its manuscript tradition, the project will aim to analyze its main themes and core issues also in light of the author’s poetics and his figurative inner division. Finally, the study of the work’s dissemination at least up to the first half of the fifteenth century may yield further evidence concerning its different interpretations.
Research Interests
History of Italian literature, contemporary Italian literature (poetry and prose), studies on the reception of Greek and Latin classics,
Latin works by Francesco Petrarca, the relationship between paganism and Christianity in medieval and humanistic literature.
