“Italia tota est plena tyrannis”. Petrarca e l’Impero alla luce della teoria giuridico-politica

The Petrarchan political thinking has been analyzed in many ways, but has not yet found a global interpretation that thoroughly clarifies its theoretical structure and ideological choices. This is the aim of this paper, on the basis of Petrarch’s approach to Empire and the idea of Empire, and from a twofold dimension: on the one hand, the humanist’s views on contemporary politics, and particularly on the situation of Italy; on the other, his theoretical contribution, which becomes apparent in his two famous (but still awaiting analysis in the light of humanistic political theory) epistles: Fam. XII, 2 and Sen. XIV, 1.