« Aver pensiero dell’abondanza » : les famines anciennes et modernes dans la tradition du Tacitisme florentin

Abstract

This article analyses the literary genre of historical-political commentary typical of Renaissance political literature, emphasising the importance of its essentially Florentine origins. Indeed, the birth and spread of Tacitism (a specific format of political argumentation, not to be confused with the generic “fortune of Tacitus” in late Renaissance and Baroque literature) are difficult to explain without contextualising them in a decisive period of Florence’s history, namely the transition from the Republic to the Grand Duchy. The “fragmented” form of these political treatises –which depends, in essence, on Machiavelli's Discorsi– makes them particularly suitable for reflections related to sudden social and political crises. The case of the famine at the end of the 16th century that is the subject of the reflections of two of the most important authors of the “Tacitist” canon, such as Scipione Ammirato and Virgilio Malvezzi, shows clearly how this textual typology was very effective in that sense.

Keywords

• Tacitism
• famine
• Florence
• Scipione Ammirato
• Virgilio Malvezzi