Rewriting the Continental Reformation for the Italian Public. The "Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans" by Antonio Brucioli

This article proposes a study of the Commento nelle celesti e divine epistole di San Paulo by Antonio Brucioli, humanist, regular of the Orti Oricellari, translator of Aristotle, Cicero, as well as of the Bible, writer of philosophical, moral, political and religious dialogues, owner of a press in Venice, and later tried for heresy. First, the analysis will focus on selected passages of Brucioli’s commentary of Paul’s epistles to the Romans, so as to highlight the sources used by the author. The practice, broadly used by Brucioli, of paraphrasing or merely copying texts of the Northern Reformers, was already pointed out in his own time by Ambrogio Catarino Politi as well as by historians. This article proposes a study of the motivations behind Brucioli’s choices of sources and his relationship with other contemporary commentaries on Paul’s epistles. Particular attention is given on the reliance – not yet pointed out by the historians – of Brucioli’s Commento on Johann Oecolampadius, the reformer of Basel. Lastly, the article emphasizes the importance for the whole Italian Reformation of the borrowing and copying of text from the European Reformers as a silent medium in the spreading of texts and ideas.