In this study the auctor presents the little known figure of Benedetto Cotrugli, born on Raguse (Croatia), a merchant who, in his latest years in Naples, became a writer, both in Latin and in the vernacular. The first text he wrote, "De uxore ducenda" (that is dealing with the taking of a wife), is missing, but we can reconstruct its structure and content. The other two texts are treatises in the vernacular describing a profession, that of the merchant in "the Book of the Art of Trade" ("Libro de l’arte de la mercatura"), of the sailor in the "De navigatione" (or "the Art of Navigation"). By writing these two texts Benedetto Cotrugli presents himself as ‘a man of letters’, whose personality is non common, because he is able to lie theoretical and practical culture and to make counter-current choices in the Naples of the middle of the xv century.
L’articolo presenta la figura, ancora poco conosciuta nell’ambito degli studi letterari, del raguseo (Croazia) Benedetto Cotrugli, di professione mercante ma in anni maturi, passati a Napoli, trattatista in latino e in volgare. Delle sue tre opere, la prima, sul prender moglie ("De uxore ducenda"), è andata perduta, ma se ne può ricostruire la struttura e la trama; le altre due sono trattati in volgare incentrati su una professione, quella del mercante nel "Libro de l’arte de la mercatura", del marinaio nel "De navigatione". Dallo studio di questi due testi emerge un «uomo di lettere» dalla personalità non banale, in grado di far convergere cultura teorica e pratica e di operare scelte controcorrente nella Napoli della metà del Quattrocento.
Benedetto Cotrugli uomo di lettere
Zanato tiziano
2016-01-01
Abstract
In this study the auctor presents the little known figure of Benedetto Cotrugli, born on Raguse (Croatia), a merchant who, in his latest years in Naples, became a writer, both in Latin and in the vernacular. The first text he wrote, "De uxore ducenda" (that is dealing with the taking of a wife), is missing, but we can reconstruct its structure and content. The other two texts are treatises in the vernacular describing a profession, that of the merchant in "the Book of the Art of Trade" ("Libro de l’arte de la mercatura"), of the sailor in the "De navigatione" (or "the Art of Navigation"). By writing these two texts Benedetto Cotrugli presents himself as ‘a man of letters’, whose personality is non common, because he is able to lie theoretical and practical culture and to make counter-current choices in the Naples of the middle of the xv century.
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