Francesco Petrarch

... Page 15. As we now know from the researches of Anthony Grafton, Lisa Jardine and ... Boccaccio's words as follows: 'Dicis enim et consulis ut satis michi sit – tuis ad literam utor verbis – carmine forsan equasse Virgilium, soluto Tullium stilo; quod o si veritate ...

The remains of Francesco Petrarch rested for centuries in the ark placed  in the small village of Arquà, next to the humble tombs of local people. Foreign travellers lingered in front of the ancient monument with awe and respect, as it became almost a must-see during the grand tour. Again in 1816, George Byron was impressed by the feeling of loneliness inspired by the place and by the sense of pride displayed by the inhabitants toward the great poet. The transformation of the graveyard into a forecourt corresponded with a new symbolical dimension assigned to the cult of Petrarch by the civic institutions and the emerging Italian nation from the mid-19th century onward. In 1843, the Paduan count Carlo Leoni promoted the renovation of the ark, but he was met with hostility and mistrust by the local notables. The restoration work, however, was  praised by the contemporary literary world and contrasted with the break-in committed in 1630 by the Dominican friar Tommaso Martinelli. The ark was later opened again in 1855, 1873 and 2003. The last inspection revealed more substantial pillaging from the past. This article focuses on the cultural and political context in which the opening of the ark took place and on the tensions that they caused inside the village that had hosted the remains of the great poet for centuries.

... Page 15. As we now know from the researches of Anthony Grafton, Lisa Jardine and ... Boccaccio's words as follows: 'Dicis enim et consulis ut satis michi sit – tuis ad literam utor verbis – carmine forsan equasse Virgilium, soluto Tullium stilo; quod o si veritate ...