Aragonesi e Borboni a lezione da Giovanni Pontano

In the history of the tradition and fortune of Giovanni Pontano’s many and varied works, a still little-studied area concerns the first translations, carried out as early as the fifteenth century, and the translations subsequently made to confirm the humanist’s fame. Interesting are those of De principe and De fortitudine published in Naples in the eighteenth century by Michelangelo Grisolia, abbot and professor of ethics and politics at the Reale Convitto Ferdinandiano alla Nunziatella. Between 1784 and 1787, in fact, he printed I doveri del principe, Il principe eroe and L’eroe domestico, respectively dedicated to Queen Maria Carolina of Austria, King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, and the heir Francis, the future Francis I. These publications present various points of interest not only for their historical and cultural context, namely the most turbulent years of the Italian Southern Enlightenment, but also for the ideological purpose behind the choice of both the two ethical-political treatises and their illustrious addressees. The paper investigates how these works were read, interpreted, and re-proposed by Grisolia for the education of members of the royal family, confirming the universality of Pontano’s teaching ad institutionem principis, whose validity has spanned the centuries, proving capable of addressing past generations of sovereigns as well as modern ones.