Stefania Signorini

Within 1513, in the circle of the Duchess of Urbino, an ample religious, paraenetical and didactic poem in Dantesque triplet was composed in order to promote the Fossembrone’s Pawnbroker’s, founded in 1492. MS Paris, BNF, italien 1057 transmits the text, signed by a not better known poet named Pupillo (maybe Fra’ Filippo da Parma). The poem, dedicated to the Duchess Elisabetta Gonzaga and to Cardinal Antonio Maria Ciocchi Del Monte San Savino as patrons of the Institute, testifies to the connections between power and art, religious life and economic events. An interesting appendix, likely witness of the most ancient version of Pawnbroker’s statutes, is included in the MS.