The New World in Early Modern Italy, 1492–1750

By the middle of the sixteenth century, early modern Italians found themselves in a disunited condition. While some were located in regions and centres dominated by Spain, on the one hand, others showed more allegiance to their cities of origin than to any centralized state. Hence the sixteen chapters of this book have to address the multifarious ways in which these differences were reflected in relations with the New World. While in the north Venice was an important centre of print culture and the recipient of detailed relazioni dispatched by its envoys at the Spanish courts, and Milan could be classified as a crossroads of global contact because of the many Jesuit clerics who passed through it, Rome was assured of receiving news about the New World via its papal and Jesuit conduits, the Medici in Florence were ardent collectors of American realia, and Naples and Sicily played their role as parts of the Spanish empire. The following comments focus on those essays that may be expected to be of particular interest to readers of this Journal.

Allegiance · Ancient history · Art · Empire · Library science · Political science · Politics · Realia · State (computer science) · Classics · Early Modern Women Writers · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History · Law · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity