La storia di Girolamo Savonarola e de' suoi tempi, volume 1 (of 2) by Villari
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"La storia di Girolamo Savonarola e de' suoi tempi, volume 1 (of 2)" by Pasquale Villari is a historical biography written in the mid-19th century. It traces the life of the Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola against the courts of Ferrara and Florence, the rise of humanism, and the turbulence of Italian and papal politics, emphasizing how his character formed in opposition to the spectacle and corruption of his age. The opening of
the volume begins with a brief notice on its publication and promised preface, then turns to Savonarola’s origins in Ferrara: a learned family, early devotion to scholastic theology, and youthful gravity shaped amid the sumptuous Este court. Villari lingers on Ferrara’s rulers and lavish ceremonies—especially papal receptions—that jar the boy’s piety, alongside a rebuffed youthful love that deepens his turn to God and culminates in his entry into the Dominican order at Bologna, explained in tender letters and a tract on despising the world. The narrative follows his strict novitiate, teaching, and early verses lamenting the Church’s decay, while widening to the landscape of the time: papal nepotism under Sixtus IV, the waning quality of Italian princes, and the shock of the Pazzi conspiracy. We see his first, uncertain attempts at preaching, a few striking moral confrontations, and his transfer to Florence during the War of Ferrara. San Marco’s history—Cosimo de’ Medici’s rebuilding, the first public library, Angelico’s frescoes, and Sant’Antonino’s living memory—initially delights him. The section then frames Lorenzo il Magnifico’s Florence as brilliant yet morally hollow, introduces the circles of Poliziano and Pulci, and points toward Marsilio Ficino and the Platonic Academy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Villari, Pasquale, 1827-1917 |
|---|---|
| Title | La storia di Girolamo Savonarola e de' suoi tempi, volume 1 (of 2) |
| Original Publication | Firenze: Le Monnier, 1859, copyright 1861. |
| Credits | Barbara Magni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) |
| Language | Italian |
| LoC Class | DG: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Italy, Vatican City, Malta |
| Subject | Savonarola, Girolamo, 1452-1498 |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78880 |
| Release Date | Jun 16, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 533 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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