Lodovico Dolce, Renaissance man of letters

by Ronnie H. Terpening

In Lodovico Dolce: Renaissance Man of Letters, Ronnie Terpening revives and reassesses the work of a minor but significant sixteenth-century humanist, said to have led a life 'both wretched and glorious'. Although Dolce (1510?-1568) gained universal renown in his own century and was considered a cultivated scholar and writer, few today recognize his importance as one of the major transmitters of culture in Cinquecento Italy. This is the first comprehensive study in English of the literary works of Dolce. It integrates a critical rereading of his writings with a history of the literary and cultural milieu of late sixteenth-century Italy.