Acknowledgments
As Uberto Decembrio’s De re publica libri IV makes its way to publication, almost exactly six centuries after it was written, I wish to express my gratitude to the staff of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan and to Carla Maria Monti and Marco Petoletti of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, who have provided me with generous research support and bibliographical advice.
This book began its life as a sequel to my PhD dissertation at the University of Florence—the critical edition of Pier Candido Decembrio’s vernacular translation of Caesar, published by Firenze University Press in 2017—directed by Donatella Coppini and Mariangela Regoliosi, who supported me and shared their suggestions with me. Special thanks are due to Jennifer Ottman, for her incredible help, to Angelo Piacentini, for kindly allowing me to read the draft of his forthcoming critical edition of Uberto Decembrio’s letters, and, last but not least, to James Hankins, for encouraging me to bring this book to life. Moreover, I wish to thank Giovanni Guastella of the University of Siena, for teaching me the art of doubt.
I am extremely grateful to the former and current general editors of the Renaissance Society of America Texts and Studies series, Ingrid De Smet and David Marsh, and to the series editor Colin Macdonald, as well as to Brill’s anonymous reviewers, for their valuable advice and corrections, which made this a better book. I sincerely thank Brill’s editors Ivo Romein, for his efficient support, and Arjan van Dijk, for being the first to believe in this book.