Will this fire burn out? The topos of lovers' separation in the Italian Renaissance

Project Information

FUDOGE

Grant agreement ID: 653443

DOI

10.3030/653443

Project closed

EC signature date 24 March 2015

Start date 1 September 2015

End date 31 August 2017

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 159 460,80

EU contribution

€ 159 460,80

Coordinated by

FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FUDOGE (Will this fire burn out? The topos of lovers' separation in the Italian Renaissance)

Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2017-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project “Will this fire burn out? The topos of lovers’ separation in the Italian Renaissance” explored a common situation in the love treatises and lyrics of the 16th century: the one of the lover who has to leave her beloved for some time. This subject raises the following main questions in the Renaissance: Does separation extinguish love? Who suffers more: the one who leaves or the one who stays? The man or the woman?

This topos is very interesting as a case study to improve our knowledge about the re-use of Petrarch and of the lyrical tradition in the Renaissance love theory, with a special attention to how gender influences the references to such literary authorities. In this perspective, a work overlooked by scholars emerged as particularly relevant, that is the Dialogo d’amore (1588) by the Friulian author Cornelio Frangipane (of which Dr. Favaro realised a commented edition), featuring the famous courtesan Tullia d’Aragona as one of the two protagonists.

Another important component of the project was the curatorship of the exhibition “Heavenly Goddess or Daughter of Eve? The Woman in Italian Culture between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation” (“Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva? La donna nella cultura italiana fra Rinascimento e Controriforma”, Trieste, Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo, October 21, 2017 – April 21, 2018). The exhibition disseminates to a general public the results of Dr. Favaro’s research on women’s role in the literature and, more broadly, in the culture of the Italian Renaissance. One of the exhibition’s sections specifically dwells on the topos of lovers’ separation.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"SCIENTIFIC TALKS:

“Petrarca e la pluralizzazione di autorità nel discorso amoroso rinascimentale. Il topos della lontananza dell’amante come case study”. Workshop: ""Briciole petrarchesche"" (Venezia, Università Ca’ Foscari, September 27, 2016), organization: Prof. Marco Sgarbi.

“È una fiamma che si spegnerà? Il topos della lontananza degli amanti fra petrarchismo e filosofia d’amore”. Conference: ""Approcci interdisciplinari al petrarchismo. Tra Italia e Germania"" (Berlin, Freie Universität, October 27-28, 2016), organization: Dr. Maiko Favaro, Prof. Bernhard Huss.

“L’auctoritas di Petrarca e la lontananza dell’amante: il caso del Dialogo d’amore di Cornelio Frangipane”. Workshop: ""Laureatus in Urbe. Seminario annuale di studi petrarcheschi"" (Roma, Università di Roma Tre, May 22-23, 2017), organization: Prof. Luca Marcozzi, Dr. Paolo Rigo.

ORGANIZATION OF EVENTS:

""Judging Petrarch’s Lyric Poems in Renaissance Italy"", two panels at the ""Renaissance Society of America Meeting"" 2016 (Boston, March 31, 2016), organization: Dr. Maiko Favaro.

""Approcci interdisciplinari al petrarchismo. Tra Italia e Germania"", International Conference (Berlin, Freie Universität, October 27-28, 2016), organization: Dr. Maiko Favaro, Prof. Bernhard Huss.

EXHIBITION:

""Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva? La donna nella cultura italiana fra Rinascimento e Controriforma"" (Trieste, Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo, October 21, 2017 - April 21, 2018), curatorship: Dr. Maiko Favaro, Alessandra Sirugo.
Catalogue of the exhibition: MAIKO FAVARO, Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva? La donna nella cultura italiana fra Rinascimento e Controriforma, Catalogo della mostra, con un’appendice di Descrizioni bibliografiche di Alessandra Sirugo, Trieste, [Comune di Trieste], 2017, ISBN: 9788890395857.

OUTREACH:

Presentation at the ""Long Night of Sciences"" (Berlin, Freie Universität, June 11, 2016), organization: Freie Universität Berlin.

Presentation at the event “L’arte di raccontare il friulano” (Gemona del Friuli, December 15-16, 2016), organization: AREA Science Park of Trieste.

TRAINING:

An important component of Dr. Favaro's project has been devoted to training, in order to achieve the aspects encompassed in his ""Career Development Plan"", that is: a) Scientific training; b) Soft skills training, including: 1) Organization; 2) Leadership; 3) Networking; 4) Project Management; 5) Career Management; 6) Teaching; 7) Foreign Languages. The Career Development Plan was fulfilled by Dr. Favaro through the following measures: a) training-through-research; b) writing of research contributions; c) attendance of literature courses at Freie Universität; d) attendance of soft skills training courses at Dahlem Research School and at Weiterbildungszentrum of Freie Universität; e) participation as a speaker in international conferences and outreach events; f) organization of conferences and of an exhibition; g) active involvement in the procedure and in the financial management of the project; h) writing of grant proposals, as well as of applications for academic jobs."

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This research improves our knowledge about the interaction between lyrics and love treatises, as well as between literature and philosophy in the conception and representation of love. For example, it allows us to see how literary authorities like Petrarch can be used in the Renaissance to argue opposite points of view on a same problem within the love theory. Another interesting aspect is that the reference to the literary tradition is deeply influenced by the gender perspective. For example, in the Dialogo d’amore by Cornelio Frangipane, the female identity of one of the two protagonists – Tullia d’Aragona – plays a determinant role in her references to Ovid’s Heroides, in addition to those to Petrarch’s Canzoniere. Such results have the potential to arise a significant interest in the current trend of research. Indeed, research on the role of Petrarch as authority and on his influence in the Renaissance is flourishing not only in Italy, but also abroad, as demonstrated by some recent and important projects in Germany and in the UK.

Both the research project and the exhibition Dr. Favaro curated at the Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo of Trieste deal with the role of women in Renaissance culture. This is one of the most popular subjects in the current international trend of research, especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Dr. Favaro’s exhibition makes accessible to a general public some of the most relevant results elaborated on the subject by the academic community in the last decades. In addition, the exhibition gives value to the Petrarchan collection of the Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo in Trieste, one of the two most important bibliographical collections on Petrarch in the world (the other is the Willard Fiske Collection at Cornell University Library, USA). The impact of such exhibition is widened by the publication of the 144-page catalogue: see MAIKO FAVARO, Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva? La donna nella cultura italiana fra Rinascimento e Controriforma, Catalogo della mostra (Trieste, Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo, 21 ottobre 2017 - 21 aprile 2018), con un’appendice di Descrizioni bibliografiche di Alessandra Sirugo, Trieste, [Comune di Trieste], 2017, ISBN: 9788890395857.

"Poster of the exhibition ""Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva?"""

"Colophon in the exhibition catalogue ""Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva?"""

"Cover of the exhibition catalogue ""Dea del cielo o figlia di Eva?"""

"Poster of the conference ""Approcci interdisciplinari al petrarchismo. Tra Italia e Germania"""