Paladini in Pagania. Vero e falso, bugie e camuffamenti nei personaggi cavallereschi tra Quattro e Cinquecento

In the Italian chivalric tradition it is easy to find characters hiding or disguising their identity. It happens when the paladins leave from Paris to the territories of the Saracens; when they are alone within a hostile court, or during a battle; when the female paladins do not want to disclose their gender. Hence, the false narrative about the self is a well established system of topoi in the tradition, and it is developed in particular in the dialogues among the characters. The paper will investigate such system of topoi, trace it in the chivalric tradition, and highlight its modifications, by considering some texts between the end of XV century and the beginning of the XVI. The principal aim is to demonstrate that such a system is strongly linked with the representation of the relationship and the contrast with the other, like the enemy, the foreigner, the woman.