Un principe caduto da cavallo. Il Principe e Gli Eroici di Giovan Battista Pigna tra poetica e politica

Abstract

Traditionally seen as just a courtly tribute to his Patron, Alfonso II d’Este Duke of Ferrara, Giovan Battista Pigna’s treatise on heroic poetry is actually an attempt to edify ‘the idea of the perfect prince’, in line with his contemporary treatise on the Prince, which from the very title bears the echo of Machiavelli’s lesson. Rather than being only an occupation of a space at the Court, Pigna’s theory (which would happen to be highly influential on Torquato Tasso’s political thinking) is a serious attempt to construct a sort of ‘metaphysics of the Prince’ that goes through all fields of knowledge, from epic poetry to politics and historiography.