According to some political theorists, western democracies are paving the road for the coming of a "postmodern prince". This conference analyses the image of the Prince from a historical, literary, political, and juridical perspective, from antiquity to Machiavelli's powerful portrait. Why has the Prince conquered the imagination of intellectuals as well as common people, across the centuries?

Program

8:30 Coffee

9:00 Opening remarks

9:30 Joseph Farrell, University of Pennsylvania

“On the Good King according to Homer”

10:15 Marilynn Desmond, Binghamton University

“Robert of Anjou, Princeps excellens, rex invictissime”

11:00 Mario Ascheri, Università di Roma 3

“The Princeps in Late Medieval Legal Texts”

11:45 Lunch break

2:00 Fabio Finotti, University of Pennsylvania

“Inventing the Humanistic Prince”

2:45 Stephen Milner, University of Manchester

“Addressing princes: the rhetoric of Machiavelli’s dedication”

3:30 Massimo Lucarelli, Université de Savoie

“Il principe tirannico del Trattato sul governo di Firenze di Savonarola”

4:15 Tea

4:30 Alessandra Villa, Université de Savoie

“Ariosto’s Princes in the Orlando Furioso”

5:15 Ann Moyer, University of Pennsylvania

“Before the Prince of Machiavellism: Machiavellian themes in Sixteenth-century Florentine thought”

6:00 Closing remarks