Del Giuoco piacevole al Ragionamento in lode delle donne: el ideal femenino cortesano en la obra de Ascanio de’ Mori

Abstract

Ascanio de' Mori (1533-1591) successfully began his brief literary career at the Renaissance court of Mantova with what is considered his most significant work, Giuoco piacevole (1575), a dialogue on the mechanisms and rules of a word game that was very successful among the courtiers of his time. In its third edition (1590), this treatise on the perfect aristocratic player was enriched not only by the inclusion of part of his lyric poetry and epistolary, but also of the Ragionamento in lode delle donne , thus converting this anthological volume into a theoretical and creative compendium of his exemplary conception of the feminine ideal.