Mito imperiale e messianismo: un codice retorico-politico nell’opera di Petrarca

This article investigates the main motifs and rhetorical features used by Petrarch in his political discourse, such as the repeated reference to the emperor Augustus, the use of messianic and apocalyptic imagery to corroborate a providential view of the ruler, a prophetic posture on the author’s part. After a few methodological remarks, I retrace such motifs and features in Petrarch’s account of the different rulers with whom he exchanged letters: Robert of Anjou, Cola di Rienzo, the Colonna, Visconti and Carrara families, and, finally, the emperor Charles IV.