Pietro Bembo on Etna

Luke Roman, Pheonix Pietro Bembo on Etna: The Ascent of a Venetian Humanist makes an indispensable contribution to our understanding of Venetian humanism, while paving the way for future explorations of Renaissance literature at the intersection of classical antiquity, print technology, and transformations in spatiality and visual culture.

Seventeenth-Century News Pietro Bembo on Etna is an ambitious book that accomplishes a great deal. Classicists and early modernists alike will benefit from Williams's brilliant rendering of De Aetna, his meticulous tracing of the "Etna Idea," and his impressive leveraging of several scholarly literatures to excavate the poetic, scientific, and historical layers of meaning in Bembo's brief but riveting dialogue.

Renaissance Quarterly Anchored in scholarly authority and... masterfully argued with extraordinary sagacity... Essential for those who love the Italian Renaissance and want to know more about one of its fundamental figures.

Anthony Grafton, London Review of Books Williams ... moves deftly from one episode or argument to the next. He nails down each with a philologist's precision, while still offering a critic's imaginative interpretation.

Journal of Roman Studies [Williams'] volume is a carefully-crafted delight which interweaves rigorous scholarship on the Classical intertexts and Humanist influences of Bembo's De Aetna with a beautiful thread detailing the painfully human relationship between Bembo father and son.

The Classical Review In both presentation and content, then, this volume deserves whole-hearted recommendation. [Williams] demonstrates a magisterial command of a wide range of scholarly concerns, from the history of mountaineering to the complex political and scholarly landscape of Quattrocento Venice. Set against this broad backdrop of interests, the volume is also clearly rooted in a deep and confident command of the extensive and multi-lingual literature concerning Pietro Bembo in particular. Part-biography, part-critical edition, interspersed with surveys of art, printing and Classical volcanic literature, this volume is sure to become a well-thumbed reference for students and researchers across a range of fields.

Martin T. Dinter, Journal of Roman Studies Williams's volume is a carefully-crafted delight which interweaves rigorous scholarship on the Classical intertexts and Humanist influences of Bembo's De Aetna with a beautiful thread detailing the painfully human relationship between Bembo father and son.

Gareth Williams is Violin Family Professor of Classics, Columbia University. His previous OUP publications include The Cosmic Viewpoint (2016) and Roman Reflections (with Katharina Volk, 2015).

Contents Preface Abbreviations List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1. The Etna Idea I: Pindar, Pythian 1 II: Virgil and Lucretius III: Seneca, Ovid and the Aetna Poet IV: The Open-Ended Etna Idea Chapter 2. From Memory to Modernity I: Mnemonic Topography II: Antiquarian Travel before Bembo III: Urbano Bolzanio IV: Etna as an Island, Noniano as a Memory Place V: Petrarch on Mont Ventoux VI: De Aetna and the History of Mountaineering VII: Banishing Hellish Myth and Legend Chapter 3. From Venice to Sicily: Bembo's Greek Education, His Teachers, His Inspirers I: Poliziano, the Bembine Terence, and Bembo's Sogno II: Bembo's Greek Studies in Messina III: Absent Presences: Giorgio Valla and Ermolao Barbaro IV: The Half-Story So Far Chapter 4. De Aetna in the Context of Quattrocento Venetian Humanism I: Ermolao Barbaro, Born for Letters, Bred for State-Service II: The Evolution of Quattrocento Venetian Humanism III: Pietro's Peers, Gli Asolani, and the Leggi della Compagnia degli Amici (i) Angelo Gabriele (ii) Gli Asolani, and Pietro's Correspondence with Trifone Gabriele (iii) Vincenzo Quirini and Tommaso Giustiniani Chapter 5. Physical Form and Textual Meaning in the Aldine Book: The Symbolic Significance of Typeface I: Venice, the Rise of Printing, and the Aldine Press II: The Aldine Octavo Hand-Book III: The Interrelationship of Physical Form and Textual Meaning IV: Bernardo Bembo, Petrarch's Laura, and Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci V: End-Point, Start-Point Chapter 6. Activations of Landscape in De Aetna I: Venice, the Veneto, and Villa Culture II: Father and Son in Pietro's Early Verses III: The Recalibration of Perspective Through Contrasts of Landscape IV: Shaping Etna's Landscape Through Poetic Inscription Chapter 7. The Bembo Collection, and Evocations of Noniano I: Pietro Bembo the Collector II: Coins, Medals, and Valerio Belli's Bembo III: Titian, Bembo, and Evocation of Sweet Noniano IV: De Aetna and Naturalist Collecting V: Bembo and Giovanni Bellini Text and Translation Bibliography Index of Passages General Index Index of Latin Words Index of Greek Words