The flowers of Italian literature: language, imitation and gender debates in Paolo Giovio's Dialogus de viris et foeminis aetate nostra florentibus

Written in the shadow of the devastating S ack of R ome (1527), P aolo G iovio's dialogue on the N otable M en and W omen of our T ime seeks to measure whether I taly's military valour, literary prowess, and female excellence have declined over the course of the I talian W ars. In this relatively unexamined work composed at the behest of his patron and protector, V ittoria C olonna, G iovio broadly surveys his male and female contemporaries in order to assess whether his age suffers from an isolated moment of catastrophe or has instead begun to grow martially, culturally, and socially barren. This article examines G iovio's evaluation of I taly's literary landscape and contradictory responses to contemporary debates over the questione della lingua , C iceronian‐ E clectic imitation, and female authorship and readership. It demonstrates that the dialogue articulates a pro‐ L atin position that reframes the polemics over imitation in terms of vernacular's perceived problematic relationship to exemplars and undiscerning, primarily female, audiences while at the same time heralding a new age of women's cultural involvement. It argues that G iovio attempts to resolve this knot by endowing C olonna herself with the positive qualities he associates with strong L atin writing, her own vernacular activity notwithstanding.