Il dramma pastorale in Arcadia. Dibattiti teorici e prove teatrali

The article aims to describe the employment of the pastoral tragicomedy in the Arcadian literary theory, paying specific attention to Giovan Mario Crescimbeni’s and Gian Vincenzo Gravina’s critical works. The recourse to the bucolic fiction, rather than testifying the inclination for the sober Renaissance literary model, seems to be the proof of a still ongoing fascination with the Baroque cultural season. Several theatric works and poetic treatises of this period, produced by men of letters and dramatists linked to the Arcadian circle, show indeed the presence of typical Baroque elements, both in style – as the abuse of the technique of hybridization confirms –, and in the development of the subject, as well as in the passions represented