A tribute to Professor Paolo Viti

On October 26th, ISI Florence paid homage to Professor Paolo Viti (Università del Salento, Lecce) by presenting a book in his honor at Palazzo Rucellai. Edited by professors Sondra Dall’Oco and Luca Ruggio (also from Università del Salento), the book — titled “Vir bonus dicendi peritus. Studi in onore di Paolo Viti” and published by Edizioni Milella — collects some forty articles by Prof. Viti’s friends and colleagues, including ISI Florence director Stefano Baldassarri. 

The essays touch on the main topics that Prof. Viti has addressed throughout his long and prolific career. Coluccio Salutati, Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, Antonio Beccadelli, Leon Battista Alberti, Lorenzo Valla, Giannozzo Manetti, Cristoforo Landino, and Angelo Poliziano – the leading Italian humanists of the fifteenth century – are a primary focus. 

The so-called Three Crowns of Florence (Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio) also make an appearance, in addition to several more interdisciplinary topics (e.g., Antonio Galateo’s eclectic writings, humanist theater, and the ‘rediscovery of spas’ in Renaissance culture). Prof. Viti has discussed all these themes and more in a series of highly original studies from the 1990s onwards. 

The volume was presented by two prestigious scholars and friends of Paolo Viti who have often participated in ISI Florence events at Palazzo Rucellai: Arnaldo Bruni and Giovanna Lazzi.  To purchase the book, CLICK HERE.