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Discover the different practices and forms of Machiavellian otium across a selection of letters taken from Niccolò Machiavelli’s correspondence between 1512 and 1527.

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05-11-1526

After his return to Florence M. informs Guicciardini about his trip to Modena and provides an account of a meeting with his friends Filippo de’ Nerli and Guido Rangoni.

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17-05-1521

M. writes in a playful and jocular manner in relation to his rather ‘otiose’ mission to the Minorite Friars at Carpi, where he had been sent by the Otto di Pratica of Florence in order to negotiate for installation of a new governor and administrative reforms for the Order. In this letter to Francesco Guicciardini he reflects on religion, writing, and his own role as a citizen and diplomat of Florence and as a writer.

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10-12-1513

Description of a day in M.’s life in his villa in Sant’Andrea in Percussina (San Casciano). This letter is M.’s most famous letter because in it he informs Francesco Vettori that he is writing “un opuscolo de principatibus” later identified as The Prince. He asks Vettori to convey his “opuscule” to the Medici.

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29-11-1509

The letter indulges in the description of leisure in moments of unoccupied time when M. distracts himself by writing letters or poems.

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