Sprezzatura 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World

by D'Epiro, Peter; Pinkowish, Mary Desmond

• ISBN13: 9780385720199
• ISBN10: 038572019X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-02
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

A witty, erudite celebration of fifty great Italian cultural achievements that have significantly influenced Western civilization from the authors ofWhat Are the Seven Wonders of the World? "Sprezzatura," or the art of effortless mastery, was coined in 1528 by Baldassare Castiglione inThe Book of the Courtier. No one has demonstrated effortless mastery throughout history quite like the Italians. From the Roman calendar and the creator of the modern orchestra (Claudio Monteverdi) to the beginnings of ballet and the creator of modern political science (Niccolo Machiavelli),Sprezzaturahighlights fifty great Italian cultural achievements in a series of fifty information-packed essays in chronological order.

Author Biography

Peter D’Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish are the authors of <i>What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? And 100 Other Great Cultural Lists–Fully Explicated.</i> D’Epiro lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Pinkowish lives in Larchmont, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Rome gives the world a calendar---twice	3	(6)
The Roman Republic and our own	9	(6)
Julius Caesar and the imperial purple	15	(9)
Catullus revolutionizes love poetry	24	(7)
Master builders of the ancient world	31	(7)
``Satire is wholly ours''	38	(8)
Ovid's treasure hoard of myth and fable	46	(7)
The Roman legacy of law	53	(6)
Father of Western monasticism, preserver of the Roman heritage	59	(5)
St. Benedict
Salerno and Bologna: The earliest medical school and university	64	(7)
St. Francis of Assisi, ``alter Christus''	71	(8)
``Stupor mundi'': Emperor Frederick II, King of Sicily and Jerusalem	79	(8)
Titan of theology	87	(7)
St. Thomas Aquinas
Dante's incomparable Comedy	94	(11)
Banks, bookkeeping, and the rise of commercial capitalism	105	(7)
Creator of the modern lyric	112	(8)
Petrarch
Boccaccio and the development of Western literary realism	120	(9)
The mystic as activist: St. Catherine of Siena	129	(5)
Inventors of the visual language of the Renaissance: Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio	134	(9)
Lorenzo Ghiberti and the ``Gates of Paradise''	143	(4)
Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici, grand patrons of art and learning	147	(9)
The condottiere with a vision	156	(7)
Sigismondo Malatesta
Renaissance man, eternal enigma	163	(10)
Leonardo da Vinci
A new world beckons: Columbus, Cabot, Vespucci, Verrazano	173	(9)
Machiavelli and the dawn of modern political science	182	(8)
Epitome of human artistry	190	(11)
Michelangelo
Sprezzatura and Castiglione's concept of the gentleman	201	(8)
Self-publicist, pornographer, ``secretary of the world''	209	(6)
Aretino
Giovanni Della Casa's Galateo: Etiquette book par excellence	215	(6)
Andrea Palladio and his ``bible'' of building	221	(5)
Catherine de' Medici: Godmother of French cuisine	226	(6)
Peri's Euridice: The birth of opera from the spirit of tragedy	232	(7)
Galileo frames the foundations of modern science	239	(8)
Two sonorous gifts: The violin and the piano	247	(6)
Claudio Monteverdi, father of modern music	253	(6)
The Baroque splendors of Bernini	259	(7)
Pioneers of modern anatomy: Eustachio, Fallopio, Malpighi, Morgagni, et al.	266	(7)
Founder of modern penology: Cesare Beccaria	273	(4)
Trailblazers in electricity: Galvani and Volta	277	(4)
Rhapsody in stone, water, melody, and color	281	(10)
Venice
Europe's premier poet of pressimism: Giacomo Leopardi	291	(9)
A united Italy emerges	300	(10)
Giuseppe Garibaldi
The last ``Renaissance'' prince---D'Annunzio at Fiume	310	(9)
Maria Montessori and a new era in early childhood education	319	(7)
La Dottoressa
Marconi invents the radio	326	(5)
Father of the atomic age	331	(7)
Enrico Fermi
Neorealist cinema and beyond	338	(7)
Roberto Rossellini
An unlikely international bestseller: Lampedusa's The Leopard	345	(8)
Ferrari---on the road to perfection	353	(4)
La moda italiana: The art of apparel	357	(8)
Suggested Reading	365	(24)
Index	389	(8)
About the Contributors	397