Abstract

This essay aims to investigate the reasons of the allegedly late reception of Justus Lipsius's political thought in Counter-Reformation Italy. The efficacy of censorship in Catholic countries after the Council of Trent, together with the Church's distrust of pagan Stoicism and the anti-Machiavellianism that was taking hold in the 1590s, do not alone support the assumption of a lack of interest in Lipsius's political thought within the Italian cultural and publishing milieu. The contribution provides a short overview of both the publishers and booksellers, as well as the authors and editors, involved in the printing venture of Lipsius's political works in Italian translations in order to demonstrate that their reputation, literary distinction as well as their production in terms of both quantity and quality is far from being insignificant.