Congiure, tiranni e teste mozzate: Filippo de’ Nerli ‘allievo’ di Machiavelli

Abstract

The paper analises the historical work of Filippo de’ Nerli (1476-1556), a fervent follower of Medici, who took part in the Orti Oricellari’s meetings. He was friend and correspondent of Machiavelli. Nerli and Machiavelli had very different political ideas, but Nerli seems to have well understood the Machiavelli’s lesson: and he is very proud about it. We can obtain this information from the telling of antityrannical plots in Nerli’s Commentari de’ fatti civili: the plot against cardinal Giulio de’ Medici (1522) and the plot organized by Lorenzino against Alessandro de’ Medici, the first Duke of Florence (1537). In both these cases, Machiavelli’ political lesson becomes a clever interpretation of human action, in witch Nerli reads the recent events of Florentine politics openly using the Machiavellian method: to read ancient history (and the biblical telling too) to define the rules useful to understand events and protagonists of recent historical events.