Abstract

The "Principe", the "Discorsi" and the "Commentario delle cose de' Turchi" were printed by the same publisher in the thirties of the Sixteenth century. The work traces the genesis of turcophilia of the Cinquecento by relating the fortune of Machiavelli and that of Giovio. It also explains how the model offered by the two authors influenced the political realism, the use to compare and the analysis of the Ottoman Empire in some Italian and Spanish texts published before and after the Counter-Reformation. In particular, the essay focuses on the theme of military discipline and on the relationship between religion and warfare, which had become central thanks to the reflection of Machiavelli on the Roman Empire.