«Ma al fin in niente si risolverà / e la Romana Chiesa resterà». Di una versione censurata del Sogno dil Caravia

The Sogno dil Caravia is a vision in octaves published by the Venetian jeweler and poet Alessandro Caravia in 1541. In his text Caravia discusses, in a facetious way, issues at the center of the coeval religious debate and their moral, social, and political implications. A censored version of the poem is included in a collection of moralities entitled Versi morali et sententiosi di Dante, del Petrarca, di M. Lodovico Ariosto et de molti altri autori, per utilità comune insieme raccolti, perché in essi si può imparare molte cose utili et virtuose, published by the Venetian printing press Al segno della Speranza in 1554. By both removing some verses or (groups) of octaves and rewriting one or more endecasyllables, those who republish the text included in the collection of Versi morali offer an early and interesting example of expurgation and moralization of Caravia’s poem. The essay aims to reconstruct the strategies adopted to censor the Sogno dil Caravia and the religious and moral reasons behind this initiative.