Writings on the Sober Life
Book (italiano):
<p>Alvise Cornaro (c.1484–1566), well born in Padua, was an energetic, religious man of formidable entrepreneurial skills. Critically ill – possibly with diabetes – around age 40, he resolved to abandon his sensual life. The healthier controlled diet led to his recovery, and later brought him to share this sober regime through his treatise, <em>La vita sobria</em> (1558). Its publication, with useful homilies for living to 100 years – proper lifestyle and proper personal diet – was a worldwide success, and his adoption of Galen’s “quantity and quality,” while avoiding excess in food or drink, sound prescient to today’s reader.</p><p>This edition offers the most coherent, uncensored, and complete rendering of this Early Modern classic ever available in English, with Cornaro’s <em>Aggionta</em> (“Addition”) translated here for the first time. An introduction and essay by the late scholar Marisa Milani offer biographical analysis for his theory and a history of its English editions. Also presented are letters by Cornaro’s contemporaries commenting on the treatise, in addition to his eulogy (now viewed as having been written by Cornaro himself). A foreword by award-winning health journalist Greg Critser speaks to the continuing relevance of Cornaro’s sixteenth-century style of self-help.</p><p>Marisa Milani (1935–1997) was an eminent scholar, most notably on the Pavano poets and language. Her earlier works on Ruzzante, posthumously collected as <em>El pì bel favelare del mondo: Saggi ruzzantiani</em>, led to her 1983 critical edition on Alvise Cornaro. </p>
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