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SESSO NEL RINASCIMENTO Pratica, Perversione E Punizione Nell’Italia Rinascimentale

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SESSO NEL RINASCIMENTO Pratica, Perversione E Punizione Nell’Italia Rinascimentale B I B L I O T H E C A SESSO NEL RINASCIMENTO pratica, perversione e punizione nell’Italia rinascimentale A cura di Allison Levy Le Lettere Traduzione di Monica Martignoni e Tiziana Gambardella. Copyright © 2009 by Casa Editrice Le Lettere - Firenze ISBN 88 6087 151 4 www.lelettere.it a L.A. Introduzione ALLISON LEVY 1. STRANI COMPAGNI DI LETTO Ci sono molti modi di fare le cose e altrettanti di analizzarle. Prendiamo in considerazione tre pagine strappate da un libro di illustrazioni erotiche del XVIII secolo. Questi disegni, basati su I Modi di Giulio Romano, un volu- me cinquecentesco illustrato di posizioni sessuali con “spiegazioni” scritte nientemeno che da Pietro Aretino, il controverso “pornografo” dell’Italia rinascimentale, preparano il terreno per i capitoli che seguono. Nel primo disegno delle coppie di donne in varie pose occupano il proscenio e il sipa- rio aperto consente assistere liberamente alla rappresentazione (Fig. 1.1). La teatralità della scena è ovvia, come lo sono gli oggetti del desiderio dello spettatore. Posto di fronte, centralmente, egli assume una posizione tutta sua, che può essere la principale, ma anche noi, benché costretti a guardare dalle quinte, godiamo di una bella vista. Se questo disegno lascia molto poco all’immaginazione, il successivo lascia sicuramente spazio al mistero (Fig. 1.2). In un interno domestico, un mondo privato diventa pubblico. Ma lo diventa davvero? In modo frustrante, ci è dato di vedere solo la scena che si svela a destra. In questo scenario piuttosto prevedibile e convenzionale tra uomo e donna, possiamo prevedere con sicurezza che cosa accadrà. Molto più intrigante è quel che potrebbe accadere nella camera da letto accanto. Senza l’aiuto di un buco della serratura, la nostra prospettiva è alterata e la nostra capacità di vedere compromessa; di conseguenza la no- stra immaginazione può solo procedere a briglia sciolta mentre cerchiamo di comprendere quella che sembra una serie infinita di combinazioni messe in atto dalla coppia di vicini. Se i corpi ai quali appartengono quelle gambe intrecciate restano nascosti, la coppia successiva se la spassa proprio sotto i nostri occhi (Fig. 1.3). Questa coppia scomposta sottolinea la performati- vità degli “atti” sessuali raffigurati, che ci deliziano con posizioni e accesso- 8 ALLISON LEVY ri estremi. I due si comportano senza alcuna inibizione; senza niente da nascondere, questi amanti dell’inizio dell’era moderna ci obbligano a rivol- gere il nostro sguardo voyeuristico su noi stessi per affrontare la narrativa “moderna” che ha oscurato tanta cultura erotica dell’Italia rinascimentale. Per dirla semplicemente, questo è un libro sul sesso. Fin dall’inizio è stato chiaro che il suo compito era rivelare più che nascondere. Perciò non ci tiriamo indietro. Invece di raccontare la storia della sessualità rinascimenta- le in termini garbati, preferiamo rivelarla a chiare lettere. Invece di offrire al lettore una serie di saggi che accettano e reiterano senza alcun atteggia- mento critico il modello di sessualità imposto dalla società, poniamo l’ac- cento su quanto è singolare, perverso, clandestino e scandaloso. Ma analiz- zare l’insolito significa anche affrontare l’ambiguità e la molteplicità. Ed è esattamente questo l’obiettivo della raccolta: raccontare una storia sulle pratiche di una particolare cultura nei termini più semplici e suggestivi, celebrando allo stesso tempo il caos e la complessità. Abbiamo deliberata- mente ridotto la lunghezza dei saggi, mettendo spesso in primo piano solo un dettaglio di una narrazione più ampia, per consentire uno sguardo voyeu- ristico su un mondo privato che gli studiosi precedenti hanno trascurato o tenuto nascosto. Il quadro tracciato in questo testo conferisce nuove sfu- mature alla comprensione della sessualità del Rinascimento e della nostra. In questa dissertazione critica sulla sessualità e la cultura visiva italiana all’inizio dell’era moderna, il concetto di “atti sessuali” è interpretato in modo ampio, dalla manifestazione o rappresentazione della propria sessua- lità (o della sessualità altrui), all’attività sessuale vera e propria, comprese quelle che erano o potrebbero ancora oggi essere considerate pratiche e preferenze bizzarre o alternative, e una gamma di possibili scenari scanda- losi. Inoltre questa collezione pone l’attenzione sulla sessualità nella cultura visiva all’inizio dell’era moderna, dalle rappresentazioni del sesso e di corpi sessualizzati agli oggetti materiali associati alle attività sessuali. Per esempio, gli autori non analizzano solo le rappresentazioni pittoriche (convenzionali) di atti sessuali e corpi erotizzati, ma anche le immagini tratte da opere a stam- pa, disegni e vasi di ceramica dipinti. In questo modo il volume presenta un’immagine completamente nuova della sessualità rinascimentale, dissipan- do una serie di idee sbagliate e manipolazioni e facendo luce su un mondo che è stato spesso frainteso. Il libro è diviso in quattro sezioni tematiche. La prima, Pratica, analizza prescrizioni, divieti, posizioni e accessori. Catherine Hess apre la raccolta con Piacere, vergogna e guarigione: immagini erotiche nella maiolica del se- dicesimo secolo, un’analisi dettagliata delle immagini sessuali – a partire da donne che mostrano i propri genitali fino a falli alati – che appaiono su vasellame da farmacia in ceramica. Questi contenitori, usati per medicinali, STRANI COMPAGNI DI LETTO 9 sono tra le testimonianze più numerose di maioliche rinascimentali giunte fino a noi. L’autrice esplora il rapporto tra malattia e desiderio, interpretan- do l’immagine erotica come un mezzo per garantire l’efficacia del farmaco e tenere lontano il male. Anche il saggio successivo, “L’uso de’ putti”: sulla pedagogia pederastica dell’Alcibiade fanciullo a scola di Antonio Rocco tratta delle “prescrizioni”, ma si focalizza sull’aspetto orale, testuale e verbale più che figurativo, ico- nico e visivo. Paolo Fasoli esamina l’Alcibiade fanciullo a scola di Antonio Rocco, l’oltraggioso “invito” alla sodomia scritto intorno al 1630. Si tratta di un dialogo, ambientato nell’Atene classica, tra lo studioso Timoteo e il suo allievo adolescente Alcibiade. Timoteo convince il suo studente che essere sodomizzato dal proprio maestro sarebbe non solo estremamente piacevole ma anche benefico dal punto di vista intellettuale. Fasoli analizza l’Alcibiade nel contesto di una più ampia manualistica sessuale, esplorando i collegamenti tra retorica e pornografia. Nel suo testo provocatorio La prostituzione nella Venezia del Cinquecen- to: prevenzione e protesta, Ann Rosalind Jones analizza i divieti relativi alla prostituzione e il ruolo delle meretrici nella Venezia del Cinquecento. Co- m’è noto, Cesare Vecellio incluse quattro xilografie di prostitute veneziane in Degli Habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo (Venezia, 1590), osservando che molte di loro si vestivano esattamente come le nobildonne, ingannando gli stranieri che erano convinti di amoreggiare con donne del- l’aristocrazia. In modo meno censorio, le donne della sua città, soprattutto Moderata Fonte (Modesta Pozzo), difendevano le prostitute, considerandole vittime di ingiusti accordi familiari ed economici e riversando la colpa del loro degrado sui parenti di sesso maschile e sui clienti. Citando editti di Stato, cronache di stranieri e quadri di Tiziano, la Jones mostra la comples- sità della storia sociale che emerge dalle vite delle prostitute veneziane. La donna alla finestra: desiderio sessuale lecito e illecito nell’Italia rina- scimentale, di Diane Wolfthal, getta una nuova luce sugli spazi sessualizzati e i punti di osservazione. La letteratura prescrittiva del Rinascimento italia- no ribadiva con insistenza la necessità della separazione spaziale tra uomini e donne come mezzo per frenare la lussuria. Tuttavia, se le donne volevano attirare lo sguardo maschile, dovevano mostrarsi negli spazi liminari tra casa e strada: finestre, porte e balconi. Il saggio della Wolfthal si concentra sulle rappresentazioni delle attività sessuali “marginali”, dal corteggiamento de- coroso alle transazioni illecite, considerando queste immagini in rapporto ai concetti di riservatezza, proprietà, decoro ed esposizione della persona, che all’inizio dell’era moderna subivano in Italia una serie di trasforma- zioni. Patricia Simons sposta l’attenzione dalle posizioni agli accessori. In La 10 ALLISON LEVY storia culturale del Seigneur Dildoe nell’Italia rinascimentale assume una posizione critica nei confronti degli “strumenti” fallici usati dalle donne. I riferimenti a questi oggetti appaiono in vari generi letterari: libri peniten- ziali, trattati morali, manuali medici, fino a satire, canzoni carnevalesche e testi di illustrazioni erotiche. Basandosi su una panoramica di diversi ele- menti e generi, la Simons conclude che la storia italiana del dildo riguarda l’immaginazione culturale più che la pratica reale. D’altra parte, alcune donne europee foggiarono materialmente gli strumenti desiderati. L’autrice sottolinea la necessità di distinguere tra questi usi pratici e una serie di at- teggiamenti connessi alla natura intrinsecamente ed esclusivamente maschi- le di questo oggetto, sia in termini simbolici che somatici. La seconda parte, intitolata Performance, si concentra su protagonisti, pretendenti e fornitori. In Discorso proibito e relazioni illecite: Pietro Fortini e la novella dell’amore cristiano-ebraico, Karina Feliciano Attar esamina una storia di relazioni sessuali interreligiose e conversioni ambientata a Bologna.
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