Abstract

The present essay examines a specific section of Vettori’s vernacular letters in order to bring to light the wide array of « carte messagere » written by one of the most eminential – as recognized by his contemporaries – XVIth century philologue; Vettori’s correspondence yet lacks a critical, complexive, and -hopefully diacronical study, given the large span of his life covered by his letters. Vettori’s carteggio contains much informations regarding the mechanical and textual preservation of ancient texts, maintaining a particular high level of critical perspicuity even in the later stage of his life. The textual corpus hereby presented consists in a series of letters exchanged between Vettori and Guglielmo Sirleto, cardinal and head-librarian of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, regarding the mutual exchange of manuscripts between Florence and Rome and their different approaches and intents, the first focused on the reexhumation of classical authorship and the defence of the vernacular cultural production (particularly endangered during those years), while the second on the ecdotical study of patristic texts.