Virgil's «Georgics» in Italian Literature

The VirGIL (Virgil’s “Georgics” in Italian Literature) project aims to investigate the legacy of Virgil’s “Georgics” in Italy between the 15th and the 19th centuries, and its impact on agricultural and livestock breeding practices of that period, through an analysis of translations of Virgil’s poem and agronomical treatises. Indeed, until the Modern Age, the “Georgics” continued to be interpreted not only as a poem but also as a work capable of conveying precise notions for farmers and breeders. Although the first translations appeared at the end of the 15th century, it is primarily from the 18th century that they multiplied, revealing a renewed interest in the scientific themes of the poem. There are still no specific systematic studies on this topic: further research is therefore needed that integrates a philological approach with a translational and linguistic perspective. This project firstly proposes a transcription and in-depth analysis of verse translations of the “Georgics” in the period under consideration, to define the authors’ culture and understand how they translated Latin hexameters into Italian metric forms. Secondly, it involves an analysis of Italian poems directly inspired by the “Georgics” to highlight similar passages and determine the extent of their influence. Finally, by focusing on some key terms such as names of plants, agricultural tools and techniques, the project aims to identify points of contact between the corpus of translations and major agronomical treatises, to determine whether there are mutual influences or not. The expected result–understanding the relationship between the agronomical and naturalistic culture conveyed by Virgil’s “Georgics” and its reception in Italian culture, as well as how various metric forms deal with hexameters–will open up innovative perspectives both on Translation Studies and the History of science in the Early Modern period.