Apocryphal News and Apocryphal Truths in Early Modern Italy: Girolamo Gigli's Gazzettino (1712-1713)

This article examines what is likely the first and lengthiest instance of satirical news in early modern Italy. It analyses the historical context and cultural meaning of the avvisi of Sienese author Girolamo Gigli in dispatches issued between October 1712 and April 1713 in seventeen instalments of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Italian studies 2022-01, Vol.77 (1), p.32-50
Main Author: McClure, George
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
avvisi
Gazzettino
Girolamo Gigli
Jesuits
San Cresci
satirical news
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article examines what is likely the first and lengthiest instance of satirical news in early modern Italy. It analyses the historical context and cultural meaning of the avvisi of Sienese author Girolamo Gigli in dispatches issued between October 1712 and April 1713 in seventeen instalments of bulletins with multiple entries, dated from Rome, Siena, Florence, Pisa, Livorno, and other cities. Gigli's Gazzettino (published as a collection only after his death) was most immediately inspired by the controversy regarding Jesuit missionaries' incorporation of local customs in their conversion of the Chinese and, closer to home, by the efforts of the Florentines to legitimise their local saint, San Cresci. Mixing fictive and real elements, Gigli simultaneously parodies and exploits the epistemological fragility of early modern news, as he raises doubts about the authenticity of revered texts and traditions.
ISSN:0075-1634
1748-6181
DOI:10.1080/00751634.2021.2005451