From Venice to Urbino

In 1506, the Venetian Pietro Bembo, an influential figure in the development of the Italian language, moved to Urbino.

In Urbino he met at the refined court of Montefeltro Castiglione, Bibbiena... Having decided not to follow a political career in the Republic of Venice, and to devote himself to study. He did not succeed to settle in Rome, but, thanks to Elisabetta Gonzaga, he was received by the Duke of Urbino, where he lived until 1512. However, Bembo's stay in Urbino was not intended to be so long...

In 1508 he obtained the tonsure and, in order to continue his ecclesiastical career, in 1512 he moved to Rome.

These years were crucial for the preparation of Prose della Volgar lingua with which he rose to the highest levels of his career as a humanist. And his collection of Rime.

The letters he wrote in this period are considered, and throw light upon the working out of his literary ideas, where Petrach was a dominating model and which eventually brought him to turn away from the courtly life. For this reason later in his life he may have eliminated a good number of letters written in these years. Some dubious datations of his epistolary are discussed.

DISCOVER MORE