It was the fall of 2011 when Firenze University Press first started presenting its publications at ISI Florence. On that occasion the book was Bernardo Rucellai’s “De Bello Italico,” his account — in Latin — of Charles VIII’s descent into Italy in late summer 1494 and its subsequent conquest of the Neapolitan kingdom.
That edition by Prof. Donatella Coppini (provided with an introductory essay, notes, bibliography, and an Italian translation) was the first of a new editorial series that Firenze UP had just launched. Conceived by Prof. Renzo Martinelli and titled “Storici e Cronisti di Firenze” (“Historians and Chroniclers of Florence”), the series has now reached its seventh volume.
The latest in the series is Prof. Arianna Capirossi’s excellent edition of Giovanni Cavalcanti’s “Nuova Opera” (“New Work”). As the title suggests, this text by Cavalcanti (1381- ca. 1451), which he wrote in the late 1440s, is a sequel to his previous “Istorie Fiorentine” (“Florentine Histories”). The “Nuova Opera” was presented at Palazzo Rucellai (our institute’s headquarters) on September 28th, involving several specialists on Italian Renaissance history, that is, Stefano Baldassarri (Director, ISI Florence), Gian Mario Anselmi (Università di Bologna), Jean-Jacques Marchand (Université de Lausanne), and Arianna Capirossi herself.
The book launch was introduced by Dr. Alessandro Pierno (Firenze University Press), who outlined the main features of this editorial series and shared impressive data on its sales, thus confirming its success both in Europe and in North America. During the event, Prof. Baldassarri was glad to remind the audience that since 2015 our institute has an editorial series with Firenze University Press. Among the books published in that series so far is “Vorrei,” the ISI Florence Italian language handbook.
From 2011 to today, we continue to be grateful and proud of our partnership with Firenze University Press – a mainstay of the Florentine academic community.