Overview

This volume translates the poems of Giulio Cesare Croce: a sixteenth-century street poet and singer who plied his trade on the bustling streets of Bologna. Though widely popular in his time, Croce’s work has been largely neglected by modern scholarship, and his poems remain largely untranslated into English—despite their frequent reference by Italian academics who recognize their value as vivid windows into Early Modern life. This collection remedies this absence by providing the first English translation for many of Croce’s poems, bringing out (rather than obscuring) their uncouth and bawdy nature. It argues for the use of Croce’s poems within historical inquiry, demonstrating their unique contribution to our understanding of Early Modern Italy. His poems illuminate a genre often forgotten due to its oral and ephemeral nature and reveal the lived experiences of the pre-modern non-elite, displaying the flavour and character of their daily lives. Organized into four thematic chapters, the translated poems are accompanied by contextual introductions that explore various dimensions of pre-modern life. Explanatory footnotes further situate Croce’s works within their literary and historical context, making the collection accessible to scholars, students, and general readers interested in Early Modern Italian history and popular literature.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lena Breda
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
ISBN:  

9781032948591

ISBN 10:   1032948590
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   07 April 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Croce’s Bologna Introduction 1: City Life: the Good, the Bad, and the In-Between The Most Pleasing Mascherate A Praise and Condemnation of Prison The Lamentation of the Paupers who Rent a Home The Lamentation of the Drunks Predictions and a Stupendous and Marvelous Almanac About the Present Year 2: Dalla Campagna alla Città: The Margins of Urban and Rural Life in Early Modern Italy Debate between Wheat Bread and Bean Bread for Superiority The Lamentation of the Bandits The Lamentation of the Harvesters 3: Fame, Freddo: Calamities in Early Modern Italy The Most Solemn Triumph of Abundance Lamentation For the Poverty Caused by the Extreme Cold Banquet of the Ill-Fed The Despair of the Failed Carnival 4: The Comedy and Contradictions of Hierarchy Description of the Life of Giulio Cesare Croce The Cleverest Tricks of Bertoldo The Greatness of Poverty The Song of the Porcellina Appendix Currencies Original Texts Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Lena Breda is a doctoral student in history at the University of Oxford. Lena was a 2021 Fulbright Scholar to Bologna, Italy and received her Masters in Early Modern History from the University of Cambridge in 2022. She received a B.A. in History with a Minor in Italian Language and Culture from the University of Chicago in 2020. Lena studies early modern Italy with a focus on inequality, urban life, famine, and political communication across socio-economic strata.

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