The concept of otium and leisure are key to understanding epistolary cultures in early modern Italy. The correspondence of politicians, families, artists, and composers (re)negotiated boundaries between active and the contemplative lives in ways that might even provide new perspectives on today's use of social media.

Letters went viral in early modern Italy, with politics and social interaction, artistic inspiration as well as spirituality and philosophy all hinging on ingenious epistolary cultures. Correspondence fashioned intellectuals and networks, constructed thoughts and schemes, provided a stage for politics and the arts, reflected on existential questions and professional activities. It involved not only writing, but diplomacy, praying, painting, composing, and other forms of artistic expression. And while being a vital activity of everyday lives, epistolary communication also uncovered new spaces of thought, meditation, and creativity. The articles gathered in this volume trace the epistolary threads spun across early modern Italy and unravel the entanglements of their correspondents' active and contemplative lives. They reveal different forms of an epistolary otium which was both an indispensable social activity and an essential method of contemplation.

Inhalt
Judith Frömmer/Andrea Guidi: Between vita activa and vita contemplativa: Letter Writing in Early Modern Italy - Paolo Rigo: L'amico-tribuno: Petrarca, l'otium e Roma (e sulla strategia narrativa di alcune epistole del VII libro delle Familiares) - Maria Serena Sapegno: Vittoria Colonna e Michelangelo, uno scambio intenso - Stefano Saracino: Machiavellis private und politische Freundschaften nach 1512: Geselligkeit als Strategie der Rehabilitation - Judith Frömmer/Andrea Guidi: Machiavellian Missions: The Carpi-Correspondence with Francesco Guicciardini - Davide Cosi: Filosofia e religione come affetto e stato: l'educazione nelle lettere di Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi tra vita attiva e vita contemplativa - Anthony M. Cummings: Leisure, Music, and Metaphoric Epistolarity