On March 26, our Italian Literature professor Emanuela Agostini gave a lecture titled La Mandragola, tra libro e scena (The Mandrake: The Book and the Play) in Ferrara’s Biblioteca Ariostea. The series of talks  Libri in Scena (Books on Stage) was organized by Associazione Amici della Biblioteca Ariostea and Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, as a prelude to the staging of Machiavelli’s The Mandrake directed by Jurij Ferrini.
Professor Agostini’s lecture looked at the dichotomy between a written book and a staged play. Since uncertainty lies on the exact dating of The Mandrake, researches compared ideas on this work’s context and its purpose, along with questions about the author’s intentions. On the basis of the most validated studies, the speech addressed key themes and characters of Machiavelli’s masterpiece, as well as its success between the 16th and 20th centuries.