Lodovico Castelvetro

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Early 18th-century portrait of Castelvetro

Lodovico Castelvetro (ca. 1505–1571) was an important figure in the development of neo-classicism, especially in drama. It was his reading of Aristotle that led to a widespread adoption of a tight version of the Three Unities, as a dramatic standard.

Castelvetro was born in Modena, Italy, and died in Chiavenna.

Works[]

His Poetica d'Aristotele vulgarizzata e sposta ("The Poetics of Aristotle translated in the Vulgar Language and commented on") was called the most famous Italian Renaissance commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.^[1] His supposed involvement in translation of Protestant texts caused him trouble with the Church. He was labelled a heretic in 1557, and lived in exile from his native Italy (he was born near Modena). His Giunta, a commentary on the by Pietro Bembo, is one of the earlier texts on Italian grammar, and linguistics in general; his contemporaries objected to him that his theories were a little too philosophical for their time.

Poetica d'Aristotele

References[]

• Andrew Bongiorno (editor and translator), Castelvetro on the Art of Poetry (1984)
• Stefano Jossa, ‘Ludovico Castelvetro between Humanism and Heresy’, in F. De Donno, S. Gilson (eds), Beyond Catholicism : Heresy, Mysticism, and Apocalypse in Italian Culture (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014), pp. 77–103. ISBN 1137342021