Work in Progress Spring 2025 - History, Politics, and Rhetoric in the Speeches of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Istorie Fiorentine

Claudia Antonini (Frances Yates Fellow): 'History, Politics, and Rhetoric in the Speeches of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Istorie Fiorentine'

Following a tradition rooted in classical historiography, Niccolò Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories include speeches attributed to various historical figures. Both Machiavelli and his early readers regarded these speeches as a distinct and crucial component of his text. However, as a whole, the corpus of the orations featured in the Florentine Histories has not received much attention. This presentation considers Machiavelli’s speeches as examples of fictional or fictionalized political rhetoric. In doing so, it explores the speeches’ relationship to the art of eloquence, both as it was articulated in classical rhetorical theory and as it was concretely practiced in Machiavelli’s day. This approach allows us to appreciate the connections between Machiavelli’s historical writings, his rhetorical culture, and his political thought.

Claudia Antonini earned her PhD in Italian from Columbia University (2024) and is currently a Frances A. Yates Long-Term Fellow at the Warburg Institute. Her research focuses on the literary and historical writings of Niccolò Machiavelli as well as the networks of literary sociability in Renaissance Florence. Her latest article, published in the Sixteenth Century Journal, calls attention to the virtuosa, poet, and courtesan Barbera (b. 1500), addressee of two of Machiavelli’s love poems.

IMAGE: Detail, Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito (Florence, Museo di Palazzo Vecchio)