Il ritratto del vero governo del prencipe dall’essempio vivo del gran Cosimo de’Medici : l’apologia di un principe o un principe di terza mano?

The Ritratto del vero governo del prencipe is not a courtly panegyric, but a dialogue written for the prince who could give hopes to the spirituali. Lucio Paolo Rossello is a Nicodemite put on trial by Inquisition: in his dialogue he practices the art of dissimulation and hides the ideas of the evangelical reform movement. He portrays Granduca di Toscana as perfect prince moving form Erasmian issues and Machiavellian thesis. This unusual synthesis is possible because Machiavelli is cited through the De regnandi peritia, the creative plagiarism of The Prince by Agostino Nifo. My article takes in to account Matteo Salvetti's introduction to Rossello's work and Sydney Anglo's studies on Machiavellianism to shed light on one interesting and controversial work of the sixteenth century.