Petrarch correspondence and manuscripts

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 4648

Scope and content

Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and clippings concerning Petrarch, mainly consisting of correspondence between Petrarch scholars in the 19th century. Also included are copies of the manuscripts of Petrarch's Testament and his Vita Scipionis, and a typescript of "The Latin Petrarch," an essay by Conrad Rawski, prepared for the World Petrarch Congress of 1974. Correspondents include Francesco Scipione Maffei, Pietro Bembo (writing on behalf of the Pope in 1514), Karl August Förster, and Francesco Redi.

Scope and content

Also, a fragment of Petrarch's tunic. Cloth fragment in wooden case (13 x 17 cm) with handwritten caption: "Brano della tunica di F. Petrarca da una tolta dall' urna il 24 maggio 1843 quando la restaurai," signed C. Leoni.

Dates

circa 1374-1974,-1828-1883 (bulk)

Creator

no primary creator (Person)
Bembo, Pietro, 1470-1547. (Person)
Förster, Karl August. (Person)
Maffei, Scipione, marchese, 1675-1755. (Person)
Redi, Francesco, 1626-1697. (Person)
Leoni, Carlo, 1812-1874. (Person)

Language of Material

In Italian, Latin, French, German, Greek, and English.

Restrictions on Access

Access to the tunic is restricted to the permission of the curator, and is by appointment only.

Biographical / Historical

Conte Carlo Leoni was an Italian historian and archeologist. He recorded several inscriptions on the city walls of Padua, and funded the restoration of Petrarch's tomb in Arquà. The tomb had been desecrated in 1630 by a deranged monk who stole some arm bones. In 1843 the count offered to fund the restoration of the monument, which was by then in very poor condition. It was officially opened on May 24, 1843, in Leoni's presence, and the body examined. A note by Antonio Meneghelli at the end of Leoni's Vita di Petrarca (1843) describes this event, and the accompanying plate depicts Petrarch's skeleton and part of a tunic in the tomb.

Extent

1.3 cubic feet. (1.3 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

Arrangement

Mainly in alphabetical order by correspondent.

Location of Originals Note

Holder of originals: Original of the Vita Scipionis is held in Venice (Cod. Martium (?) Lat., XIV, 202).

Bibliographic References

Location in source not given -- Concerning the tunic, see Antonio Meneghelli, Pochi cenni intorno alla ristaurazione della tomba di Petrarca, in Carlo Leoni, La vita di Petrarca: memorie (Padova, 1843), p. xi and plate at end; and Giovanni Canestrini, Le ossa di Francesco Petrarca: studio antropologico (Padova, 1874).