Rinascimento privato

Rinascimento privato (Private Renaissance) was the last novel written by the Italian writer Maria Bellonci. It won the Strega Prize in 1986. It is a fictional autobiography of Isabella d'Este, covering the major years of the Italian Renaissance from a private point of view within the court of the Duke of Mantua.

Structure

The book, like other works of Bellonci, is very well documented and accurately based on original documents that the author had the opportunity to study in detail. However, this is not a historical reconstruction, like the previous book on Lucrezia Borgia (whose creation perhaps generated the idea for Private Renaissance), but it is a true historical novel, with a few inventions of the author – such as the introduction of the completely fictional character of Robert de la Pole, an English clergyman who wrote to Isabella from various points of Europe (probably inspired to Cardinal Reginald Pole).

The inclusion of this figure in the novel makes it possible to introduce important historical figures and events in the historical context of the time, even if they did not come into direct contact with Isabella. It is also valuable in replacing the figure of the narrator – irreconcilable feat with the book's autobiographical form – and the figures of other speakers who may have historically existed as a source to Bellonci, but it can not be used directly without compromising the flow of the text itself. Working with a fictional character, the author avoids exaggerating one or more actual figures and respects the historical accuracy.

Parallel to the memories of the protagonist, Bellonci develops the relationship between the English (called Anglicus) and Isabella into an uncanny connection: on the one hand, the instant attraction towards this devoted and distant figure; on the other, perplexity because of his unconventional ways. Isabella solves the difficult node of how to respond through her tacit consent in receiving his letters – while she does not attempt to stop de la Pole's writing to her, she does not ever answer.

Plot

The book is divided into seven parts, interspersed with twelve letters by Robert de la Pole. The narrative is constructed as a long flashback that takes place in 1533, when the almost sixty Isabella is writing her memoirs in the so-called Clocks' Room, in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantova. Apart from some reference to the present or the distant past, the narrative takes place mostly in chronological order, from the year 1500 to 1533, precisely the date when Isabella comes out of that scene, ending the main events of his life (she then died in 1539).

External links

• (Italian) Quotations on WikiQuote