Oneirobiblia. La Biblioteca dei sogni di Anton Francesco Doni

Abstract

The essay aims to explore, within the hybrid fabric of Anton Francesco Doni’s Libraria, the presence of an articulate ‘library of dreams’, from the Bible to Artemidoro di Daldi, from the Genealogie deorum gentilium to Matteo Palmieri’s Città di vita. The Florentine writer uses indeed the dreamlike matter to legitimise his heterodox ideological positions and support his daring expressive strategies. Through his ars somniandi it is therefore easy to grasp the ethical and experimental tension of Doni’s writing, also verifying the sixteenth-century evolution in the interpretation of dreams.