Istituzioni municipali, identità e spazi del patriziato nella Lombardia veneta. Il caso di Brescia tra la fine del XV e la seconda metà del XVI secolo

Brescia, an important city that was part of the Venetian Dominion from 1426 to 1797, has often been neglected by the recent historiography, especially for what concerns its ruling class and local government. The aim of this Doctoral Thesis was to fill this gap by inserting Brescia and its aristocracy in the historiographical debate on the civic government in the cities of the Venetian Mainland during the early modern (XV-XVI centuries). The Thesis, written under the tutorship of professors Alessandro Pastore, Gian Maria Varanini and Edoardo Demo, is divided into five sections: after an introduction - that explains the purpose and the method of the research, conducted primarily on archival and unpublished manuscripts (conserved in Brescia and Venice) - the work opens with a first chapter, in which it was shown the institutional situation of the lombard city and of the rules for access to civic councils, starting with the statutory provisions and decisions of the “Consiglio Generale”, the most important municipal institution. In the second chapter, from one side are highlighted the methods used by the members of the ruling class to prepare for the “res publica”, and on the other side the characteristics of the private and public conflicts of the aristocracy, analyzed especially from the point of view of the local humanists and chroniclers. Particular attention was paid to “De concordia Brixianorum” (1517), an important latin treatise on the democratic reform of local politics, probably written by the humanist Carlo Valgulio, “alter ego” of a wool merchant, named Benedetto Massimi. The third chapter examines the choices made by patriciate relatively public monuments and private buildings, especially through two famous figures of Venetian and Italian architecture, Andrea Palladio and Ludovico Beretta (the municipal architect of Brescia from 1550 to 1570). Thanks to the deeds preserved in the State Archive of Brescia, the life of Beretta has been reconstructed in detail for the first time, as well as his relations with the local aristocracy. The Thesis is closed by an Appendix, in which were transcribed 25 previously unpublished documents, along with photographic plates, tables and boards accompained by captions.