Dai Diaria de Bello Carolino al Fatto d'Arme (1549) : Caratteristiche e fortuna di una traduzione di Lodovico Domenichi

This master’s thesis examines one of the works of the 16th-century author and professional translator Lodovico Domenichi (1515-1564), titled Il Fatto d’Arme del Tarro (1549). This work constitutes an Italian translation of Alessandro Benedetti’s Diaria de Bello Carolino (1496), a Latin first-hand account of the battle of Fornovo (6th July 1495). This thesis has three distinct goals. The first goal is to determine whether Domenichi’s language, as manifest in the Fatto d’Arme, is contaminated by elements of the fiorentino argenteo, or 15th-century Tuscan. Some linguistic features of the most illustrious 14th-century Tuscan writers, particularly those of Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio, had been adopted as canon by a sizeable portion of the Italian literary community during the first half of the 16th-century; this linguistic canon is known as fiorentino aureo. Domenichi abided by this 14th-century aurea variant of Tuscan, and yet, at the time of the publication of Il Fatto d’Arme, he was residing in Florence, and he was, therefore, exposed to the evolved argentea variant on a daily basis. In order to investigate any variation from the aforementioned norm, this thesis examines the phonological, morphological and syntactical characteristics of Domenichi’s own language. This thesis’ second goal is to study Domenichi as a translator from Latin to Italian, his translation strategies and philosophy, his relationship with the source language, the target language, and the intended public. This goal is achieved through a meticulous examination of the translator’s lexical choices and solutions, with particular attention to military terminology, as well as a less focused investigation of his syntax in relation to the Latin original. By using etymological and historical dictionaries, Domenichi’s lexical choices have been compared systematically to the linguistical uses of his day, and to the lexemes available to him, in order to determine the degree of originality in his approach. The third and last goal of this thesis is to investigate the role that the Diaria de Bello Carolino, as well as Domenichi’s translation, have played in the context of Italian 16th-century historiography encompassing the events surrounding the battle of Fornovo. Two such works of history have been selected for this purpose: Bernardino Corio’s Historia di Milano (1503) and Bonaventura Angeli’s Historia della città di Parma (1591). By carefully examining, comparing and contrasting the four texts, this thesis is able to highlight both differences and similarities between them, and to determine whether Benedetti’s Latin original, Domenichi’s translation, or both, have been used explicitly and/or implicitly as sources by Corio and Angeli. This research yields the desired results in all three main areas of investigation. Firstly, it observes how Domenichi’s language has indeed been influenced by the fiorentino argenteo spoken in Florence at the time of Il Fatto d’Arme’s publication. On the other hand, it should be noted that the evidence is quantitatively modest, it does not demonstrate systematic patterns of linguistic deviation from the author’s canonical norm, and could be at least in part caused by the interference of a Florentine typography worker during the composition phase. Regarding Domenichi’s translation style, the research provides the reader with a detailed analysis of the translator’s modus operandi, his identifiable patterns and preferred strategies, as well as further evidence of an already well-studied author’s pragmatic skills in the context of Latin to Italian translation. Lastly, this thesis demonstrates how not only the Diaria, but also Il Fatto d’Arme has been used by the selected 16th-century authors as a source. As a matter of fact, in Angeli’s case it is Domenichi’s translation that has generally been preferred as source to narrate the events of Fornovo, despite the author stating otherwise. The thesis also provides some evidence of the use of the Diaria by the author and historian Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540) for his Storia d’Italia (1561)