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La “Maniera” Romana Di Agnolo Firenzuola

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La “Maniera” Romana Di Agnolo Firenzuola DANILO ROMEI LA “MANIERA” ROMANA DI AGNOLO FIRENZUOLA (DICEMBRE 1524 – MAGGIO 1525) [1983] versione elettronica Banca Dati “Nuovo Rinascimento” http://www.nuovorinascimento.org immesso in rete il 17 agosto 2010 INDICE CAPITOLO PRIMO L'avventura romana............................................. p. 4 CAPITOLO SECONDO I giochi della polemica (il "Discacciamento").................. p. 21 CAPITOLO TERZO Il sogno di Celso (i "Ragionamenti") 1. Composizione e struttura................................. p. 51 2. Scienza d'amore.......................................... p. 73 3. Le liriche............................................... p. 83 4. Dottrina dell'imitazione e questione della lingua........ p. 98 5. Novelle e facezie........................................ p. 111 6. L'enciclopedia........................................... p. 113 7. La nascita del manierismo................................ p. 150 CAPITOLO QUARTO Oltre il classicismo (l'"Asino d'oro") 1. Generalia................................................ p. 158 2. Genesi del volgarizzamento............................... p. 164 3. Le ragioni stilistiche della prima fase.................. p. 172 4. La seconda fase.......................................... p. 195 APPENDICE Una recente edizione del Firenzuola............................ p. 202 Nota bibliografica............................................. p. 207 Nota al testo.................................................. p. 213 Indice dei nomi................................................ p. 214 Capitolo Primo L'AVVENTURA ROMANA Nel 1518,1 quando venticinquenne2 giungeva a Roma, il Fi- renzuola era favorevolmente avviato in un'ambiziosa e profi- cua carriera giuridico-ecclesiastica, saggiamente programmata fin dagli anni della sua prima adolescenza con gli "studi del- le buone lettere" e successivamente perfezionata con gli stu- 1 Per tutti i dati che in questo rapido discorso non potrò approfon- dire rimando senz'altro al fondamentale G. FATINI, A. F. e la bor- ghesia letterata del Rinascimento, Cortona, Tip. Sociale, 1907, capp. I e II. 2 Era nato a Firenze il 28 settembre 1493; il padre, Sebastiano (o Bastiano) Giovannini, notaio, era segretario di Alessandro Bracce- si, umanista e cancelliere della repubblica fiorentina, del quale aveva sposato la figlia Lucrezia. Converrà sostare un attimo sulla figura illustre dell'avo Braccesi, che certo stese la sua ombra sulla vita del nipote ben oltre la data precoce della sua morte (1503) e che vorremmo meglio nota e più accessibile nel concreto della sua opera di scrittore, purtroppo in gran parte affidata a stampe antiche o infide, se non addirittura a un'intricata tradi- zione manoscritta. Su di lui si vedano B. AGNOLETTI, Alessandro Braccesi. Contributo alla storia dell'umanesimo e della poesia volgare, Firenze, Passeri, 1901, ed A. PEROSA, voce Braccesi, Ales- sandro, in AA.VV., Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, XIII, Ro- ma, Ist. d. Enc. It., 1971, pp. 602b-608b; Alessandro Perosa ha anche curato l'edizione dei Carmina, Firenze, Bibliopolis Libreria Ed., 1944. Del Canzoniere prepara l'edizione critica Franca Magna- ni, anticipando qualche osservazione linguistica nell'articolo Il tipo "gigghio" in un componimento rusticale di Alessandro Bracce- si, in "Lingua nostra", XLII, 1 (marzo 1981), pp. 1-3. 5 di di diritto alle università di Siena e di Perugia. Al di- ritto, del resto, lo indirizzava la tradizione della famiglia paterna che, trasferitasi a Firenze verso la metà del Quat- trocento dalla cittadina da cui prendeva il nome, tramandava la professione notarile di padre in figlio, talvolta come supporto di una modesta attività politica. Ma due fatti assai significativi già distinguevano lo sta- tus del giovane Agnolo da quello borghese e cittadino sugge- rito dalla tradizione familiare: anzitutto la rinuncia alla tradizione laica e l'appartenenza all'Ordine Vallombrosano, e quindi il trasferimento da Firenze a Roma come procuratore dell'Ordine presso la curia. La chiesa e Roma, dunque, come scelte parallele: le scelte obbligate di una generazione di intellettuali che riconosceva nel papato l'unico centro di potere capace di svolgere ancora un ruolo non puramente di- fensivo e passivo nel disastro delle istituzioni statali ita- liane e dunque capace di attirare a sé e ancora vitalizzare le forze migliori di una cultura ormai tendenzialmente, se non di fatto, nazionale.3 La corte di Leone X, papa mediceo e continuatore di una tradizione di mecenatismo come alta poli- tica culturale, diviene proprio in questo giro d'anni il cen- tro di raccolta dei maggiori letterati italiani: i rappresen- tanti del tardo umanesimo latino e insieme i padri del "clas- sicismo volgare", a dar vita alla breve e splendida stagione del rinascimento romano, quella "cresta sottile", garantita da una temporanea e ingannevole sicurezza e destinata a esse- re presto travolta da quell'improvviso e tragico richiamo al- la realtà che fu il sacco del 1527. Per il Firenzuola, che veniva da esperienze provinciali (senesi, perugine), con inevitabili caratteristiche di chiu- sura e di arretratezza, e per il quale la stessa Firenze non doveva essere molto di più di un ricordo infantile, appena ravvivato da più recenti brevi dimore, Roma rappresentava una rivelazione sconvolgente, tale da dischiudere così nuove e fertili possibilità, che di fronte ad esse quelle precedenti esperienze divengono probabilmente trascurabili. Dei soggior- 3 Sull'argomento è scontato il rinvio a C. DIONISOTTI, Chierici e lai- ci, in Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana, Torino, Ei- naudi, 1967 (II ed.), pp. 55-88. 6 ni a Siena e a Perugia l'acquisto più importante resterà l'a- micizia di Claudio Tolomei e di Pietro Aretino, che puntual- mente ritroviamo a Roma in questi anni, a ricostituire un so- dalizio certamente non solo perso nelle "giovanili piacevo- lezze" che il "flagello dei principi" ricorderà con rimpianto in una sua lettera del 1541,4 ma fervido d'idee e di rifles- sioni comuni. Furono queste le prime relazioni, i primi ras- sicuranti punti d'appoggio del giovane Firenzuola in un am- biente complesso e difficile, a tratti convulso, qual era la Roma magnifica e sordida di Leone X, del breve, inviso inter- regno di Adriano VI, dell'auspicato ma irrisoluto e infine ro- vinoso pontificato di Clemente VII;5 dove, dopo i primi anni 4 Si può leggere anche in A. F., Opere, a c. di D. MAESTRI, Torino, UTET, 1977, pp. 634-5. Avverto una volta per tutte che le citazio- ni da opere del Firenzuola verranno sempre tratte da questa edi- zione (sulla quale, peraltro, nutro perplessità e riserve). D'ora in poi mi limiterò a riportare la pagina nel testo. 5 Non posso passare sotto silenzio una fantastica ipotesi del Fatini (op. cit., p. 8), sulla sua autorità ormai diffusa nella tradizio- ne critica, cioè che il Firenzuola sarebbe andato incontro a un iniziale insuccesso - causa di un tenace risentimento - alla corte di Leone X, del quale si sarebbe vendicato adombrandolo nel credu- lo leone della Prima veste dei discorsi degli animali (composta nel 1541); respingo l'ipotesi perché una satira a vent'anni dalla morte del personaggio preso di mira mi sembra assai improbabile e perché l'allegoria anticortigiana della Prima veste offre ben al- tre possibilità di riscontro con le vicende degli ultimi anni di vita del Firenzuola (che non ebbe probabilmente mai a che fare con Leone X, limitato a una sfera troppo bassa: il decollo avverrà con il Discacciamento). Ancora il Fatini ipotizza (op. cit., p. 9) che, nella generale smobilitazione della corte romana in seguito all'elezione di Adriano VI, anche il Firenzuola sarebbe tornato a Firenze, dove appunto è ambientata, nel 1523, l'azione dei Ragio- namenti (la data, peraltro, è contraddetta dalla dedicatoria, che rimanda al 1521); ora, benché il Firenzuola, come procuratore dell'Ordine Vallombrosano, avesse a Roma un incarico preciso al di fuori della corte - e quindi al riparo da ogni mutamento di poli- tica culturale - e non avesse quindi motivo di andarsene, l'ipote- si di un soggiorno fiorentino in questo periodo, per qualsivoglia motivo, è indirettamente confermata proprio dalla lettera dell'A- retino, che ricorda all'amico "la dimestichezza" con cui l'ha pra- ticato "a Perugia scolare, a Fiorenza cittadino e a Roma prelato"; 7 silenziosi e incerti, progrediva senza clamori ma con conti- nuità la sua carriera ecclesiastica con l'acquisto di beneme- renze e di rendite; dove, sul versante dell'impegno cultura- le, lo vediamo presto sciogliere le incertezze in una prospet- tiva precocemente risoluta. Riconoscimenti concreti immediati, in quell'ambiente e in quel momento, potevano derivargli solo dall'impegno nella cultura umanistica, che conservava ancora intatto il suo pre- stigio agli occhi della classe dirigente e serviva di suppor- to a un'ideologia politica - che faceva di Roma e del papato il centro e la guida d'Italia - certamente illusoria ma anco- ra non smentita dai fatti. Al latino, del resto, lo indiriz- zavano le tradizioni familiari (era nipote, si ricordi, del- l'umanista Alessandro Braccesi),6 i giovanili "studi delle buone lettere", la stessa successiva formazione tecnica giu- ridico-ecclesiastica. Si spiega così che egli dapprima cer- casse l'inserimento nella gloriosa Accademia Romana, la par- tecipazione alla quale avrebbe esibito ancora nella dedica ebbene, a quanto ci è dato sapere, l'Aretino fu a Firenze soltanto tra la fine del '22 e l'inizio del '23, al seguito del cardinale Giulio de' Medici (cfr. G. INNAMORATI, Pietro Aretino, estratto dal
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