The Court and Its Critics: Anti-Court Sentiments in Early Modern Italy.

This text focuses on Paola Ugolini's monograph *The Court and Its Critics: Anti-Court Sentiments in Early Modern Italy*, which examines the widespread and varied critiques of court culture during the Renaissance. Ugolini explores how anti-court rhetoric, rooted in medieval and classical sources, portrayed courts as corrupt spaces hostile to virtue and individual freedom, with notable examples including Enea Silvio Piccolomini and Baldassare Castiglione. The work also addresses the gendered dimensions of anti-court sentiment, highlighting misogynistic fears of female power and the perceived moral decay of court society. Finally, Ugolini discusses how pastoral and satirical literature offered alternatives to court life, envisioning a retreat to peaceful, authentic existence away from princely courts.