Un’altra questione Machiavelli. Ancora sul femminile e il posto della donna

Starting from the 1980s, scholarship has begun systematically reflecting on the presence and role of women in Machiavelli. His many and diverse female characters – be they ‘real’ or metaphorical – have been the focus of analyses that critically examine the Florentine Secretary’s entire oeuvre. His pages on the ‘female’ topic have received much attention from a variety of points of view, taking into account – with more or less ‘sympathy’ – the acquisitions of feminist criticism. This article maps the decade-long debate, pointing out its many arguments, and stressing its still disturbing relevance.