«Al mondo son tante streghe e stregoni». Maghi e streghe nell’immaginario letterario italiano della prima età moderna

The essay deals with the image of the witch in Italian literature in the 16th and 17th centuries. At the beginning of this period, the combined effect of Pope Innocent VIII’s bull, Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484), and of Malleus Maleficarum by the Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Institor (1486), did not cause witches to be perceived as a real threat in Italy, and indeed in major literary works such as Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, they played a marginal role. However, from the end of the 16th century, following the Church’s stern condemnation of magic, the witch was portrayed as the offspring of Satan, as in Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata. This essay highlights the different phases of this gradual transformation, from the classical model of the witch as a deceiver to its final version as a dangerous demonic seducer, highlighting its fuelled by the elites’ growing concerns.