La lirica 'sui generis' di Benvenuto Cellini. Un petrarchismo spirituale, antibembiano e antiaccademico

As part of the commentary on writing from and broadly referring to prison, the present essay inquires into Benvenuto Cellini’s lyric poetry and creativity, by which the terrible “Crab” – as he used to self-portray –, and above all author of the «Vita», his most famous and autobiographical work, introduces himself mainly as an anti-bembian and anti-academic writer, away from Bembo’s canon. Actually, closer to spiritual – sometimes parody – Petrarchism, his models are plurals: in his «Rime» along with its authorial status question – there are many implicit and explicit hints to auctoritates, such as Dante. In addition, a thickening of topoi and ecphrastic textual places can be noted. On the whole: the remodulations of the topical field of unspeakability ("alienatio mentis a sensibus corporis"); the use of corporeal dimension in the palimpsest of visiones, mixed with dream occasions; the not-loving interpretation of the lyrical metaphor of "corpus carcer".