L'assedio di Firenze

Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 1804-1873Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 2M words
Chapters: 196

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.L'assedio di Firenze by Francesco Domenico GuerrazziAuthor: Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 1804-1873,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 9, 2015

Editor's review

This is the historical novel The Siege of Florence by the Italian writer Guerrazzi, set against the sixteenth-century siege of the Florentine Republic by the Medici and papal forces. Guerrazzi was an important man of letters during the nineteenth-century Italian Risorgimento, and his writing bears a distinct patriotic fervor and Romantic coloring; this book is a typical expression of that style. Readers can sense the interweaving of historical narrative and political allegory: on the surface it depicts sixteenth-century city defenses and resistance, while beneath it echoes the emotional demands of nineteenth-century Italian national unification. As a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it is easy to obtain and search for free, making it a suitable textual sample for Italian historical fiction and Risorgimento literature. When reading, it is advisable to combine the historical background of the siege with the author's biography, and to distinguish literary embellishment from historical fact. Since the original is in Italian, non-Italian readers will need a translation or parallel reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students studying Italian historical fiction and Risorgimento literature
Readers interested in the history of Florence and sixteenth-century Italian wars
Readers with Italian reading ability who want to expand their reading of public-domain literature
Literature enthusiasts interested in political allegory in historical narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian at all who are unwilling to use a translation
Readers expecting light popular history or fast-paced fiction
Readers seeking only strict historical scholarship and rejecting literary fiction

Reading tips

First learn the basic historical facts of the sixteenth-century siege of Florence and the Medici restoration, then enter the text.
While reading, note the political context of the author's own time and distinguish historical events from romanticized embellishment.
Read it alongside other historical novels of the Italian Risorgimento to observe how patriotic themes are handled.
Non-Italian readers may prepare a translation for comparison and focus on key chapters rather than reading word by word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a historical work or a novel?

It is a historical novel. The author takes the sixteenth-century siege of Florence as his subject but adds substantial literary fiction and emotional embellishment; it is not strict historical scholarship. It should be read as literature, not cited directly as a historical source.

Can I read this book without knowing Italian?

The original is in Italian, so readers who do not know Italian will need a translation or parallel reading. Reading the original directly suits readers with some language foundation; otherwise comprehension will be difficult.

Why would a nineteenth-century writer write about a sixteenth-century siege?

Guerrazzi was active during the Italian Risorgimento, and choosing the historical subject of Florence resisting foreign enemies often carried contemporary concerns about national independence and unification. Readers may note the patriotic sentiment and political allegory in the text.

Comments

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About the author

Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 1804-1873 Author

Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (1804–1873) was a nineteenth-century Italian writer, of whom twenty-seven works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to establish with certainty, yet the titles available show a considerable range. He wrote works drawn from historical figures and family fortunes, such as Beatrice Cenci: A History of the Sixteenth Century, Veronica Cybo, and Isabella Orsini, Duchess of Bracciano, as well as novels including The New Tartuffes, Destiny: A Novel, and The Dying Century, and biographical writing such as The Life of Francesco Burlamacchi. His subjects generally centre on historical events, social ethics, and human fate, and his narrative bears the mark of the nineteenth-century Italian historical novel, often using the past to reflect on morality and the changes of the world. In this collection his works are grouped under inspirational and personal growth; they are not widely known in Chinese, and these titles offer readers a glimpse of his writing.