Da Machiavelli a Aristotele : Donato Giannotti sul governo misto e il regime popolare nella Repubblica fiorentina

This article analyzes Donato Giannotti’s theories of the mixed constitution and the popular regime in his work The Florentine Republic in two different ways. First of all, it reconstructs the debt of Giannotti’s ideas with the thoughts of Polybius and Machiavelli. Second, it pays particular attention to Giannotti’s extensive engagement with Aristotle and Aristotelian language in his theory of the mixed regime. It is shown that, even if Giannotti at times draws on Machiavelli, he provides ideas that incorporate Aristotle and Aristotelian language in order to present a specific popular theory of republicanism.