Re-Writing Trent, or What Happened to Italian Literature in the Wake ...

continuing public demand for vernacular poetry. 18 A sense of tokenism cannot be avoided.
And while one might expect, given the very small numbers, a list consisting purely of „big
names‟ like Bembo - as a way to send a message to the wider public about the kinds of
popular poetry that were no longer deemed acceptable - instead the list includes a number of
minor poets whose fame and influence must have been limited. The case of Vitale Papazzoni
is emblematic. He had published only one volume of verses in 1572. There had been no
subsequent editions by 1580, and the poet did not produce a further volume of poetry, so
why, eight years later and given the scarce impact of his work, did his name appear on the
Parma Index? 19
Papazzoni‟s case might in fact provide a clue to the decisions governing inclusion on
the Parma list. He spent the majority of his life in service as secretary to Monsignor Michele
della Torre (who became a cardinal in 1583). In this role he attended the Council of Trent,
and accompanied della Torre in his role as papal nunzio to the French court in 1566.
Papazzoni was appointed Archdeacon of Ceneda in 1569, so we can assume he at some stage
took minor orders. 20 These biographical glimpses indicate that he was engaged at some level
with the religious issues of the day and known to some of the powerful figures in the Vatican.
Although his poetic output was not great, we might assume therefore that it would have
attracted more than its fair share of censorial rigour, given his connections. And while the
content of his collection of verse is entirely in line with the Petrarchan fashions of his day (or
even possibly old fashioned, in its adherence to a Bembist model from the earlier
Cinquecento), and contains large numbers of harmless occasional verses documenting events
and meetings in the poet‟s life, the stress on an unrequited love for a woman named Laura
18
For general trends in the period, see Brian Richardson, Printing, Writers and Readers in Renaissance Italy
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
19
Papazzoni did contribute a few verses to anthologies after 1572: see Bullock, ‘Vitale Papazzoni’, p.54.
20
All this useful biographical information is found in Bullock, ‘Vitale Papazzoni’, pp.52-4.
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