Greek diaspora in the 16th-century Italy: Greek scholars and Italian printers between the revival of pagan antiquity and the hegemony of the Roman Curia

The paper examines the involvement of ecclesiastical structures in Italy in relation to the dynamism of the Greek diaspora during the 16th century. In this context the importance of religious and secular commissions in the path from Greek manuscripts to printed works will be highlighted, as well as the industriousness of Italian printers, inside and outside the Apostolic Camera, and the quaestio of the national and cultural identity. The polarity of the translation activities attempts to recover – also through the cartography and the creation of typefaces in Greek, both commissioned by the Roman Curia – the ecumenical value of ancient Greek civilization and the re-modelling of the “geometry” of Greek cultural power in Italy and, in general, in Europe. In the context of the collaboration between the Greek diaspora, the Latin Church and Italian scholars and printers, mention will be made of the significant introduction and influence of “greghesca” (a hybrid Greco-Venetian dialect) on the 16th-century formular theater language – especially in the works of playwrights such as Aretino, Beolco, Molino, Calmo, and Giancarli – and the resulting response of the Roman Curia, in particular of Sixtus Medici, a Venetian theologian at the Gymnasium Patavinum in the University of Padua.