venetian literature and publishing 617
Latin fused with dialect. Piazza entertainment included songs and politi-
cal commentary.
Publishingin 1470 the first texts were printed in Venice, Petrarch’s Canzoniere and
Trionfi [Triumphs], by the german printer Vindelino da spira.3 the next
year boccaccio’s Decameron appeared, a harbinger of Venice’s distinction
in producing the largest number of editions of that text. in 1472 in Padua,
bartolomeo Valdezocco printed a landmark edition of the Canzoniere from
Petrarch’s personal manuscript, while Vindelino and others published
dante’s Commedia [Divine Comedy] in Venice. the next few years saw
other editions of these major works, accompanied by commentaries and
biographies, and additional vernacular and Latin works of the three
Crowns. Quickly following were humanistic works in both Latin and
greek and lucrative university material and entertainment genres for the
large youth audience. Popular genres also enjoyed a success paved by the
literary activity of the early Quattrocento: among the most popular texts
were collections of Leonardo giustinian’s poetry and various genres of light
reading including the comic epic and the romance. Popular devotional
material included missals, commentaries to biblical texts, and the letters
of Catherine of siena. Piazza performers rushed off to get popular texts
published on a few sheets and come back and sell them to the public.
Venice soon developed into europe’s largest and most technologically
innovative center of print, drawing leaders in the field distinguished by
their cultural programs and technical expertise. among the Serenissima’s
attractions was its farsighted protection of their work through the privile-
gio (an early form of publisher’s copyright) enforced by a senior govern-
ment commission. such a fervor of publishing activity could only exist in
the context of scholars whose philological expertise was essential to the
establishing and correcting of the texts. they were available at the uni-
versity of Padua and among the growing number of Venetian humanists
and illustrious foreign guests such as erasmus.
3 For publishing, see tiziana Pesenti, “stampatori e letterati nell’industria editoriale a
Venezia e in terraferma,” in SCV 4.1 (1983): Dalla Controriforma alla fine della Repubblica.
IlSeicento, part 1, pp. 93–129; Martin Lowry, The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and
Scholarship in Renaissance Venice (ithaca, 1979).