Journal of Early Modern Studies, n. 7 (2018), pp. 63-97 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13128/JEMS-2279-7149-22838

ISSN 2279-7149 (online)
www.fupress.com/bsfm-jems
2018 Firenze University Press

Voices from the New World: Giuliano Dati’s  
La storia della inventione delle nuove insule  

di Channaria Indiane

Riccardo Bruscagli
University of Florence (<riccardo.bruscagli@unifi.it>)

Abstract:

The article deals with two poetic translations of the first documents announcing the Discovery 
of the Americas: Giuliano Dati’s La storia della inventione delle nuove insule di Channaria 
Indiane (‘The History of the Discovery of the Indian Canary Islands’), which rendered 
Columbus’ letter to the Spanish court, and Matteo Fortini’s Libro dell’Universo (‘Book of the 
Universe’), which instead translated Amerigo Vespucci’s account. It concentrates on Dati’s 
cantare, exploring its status as a text destined to be recited and performed, and situates the 
poem within the author’s oeuvre. Closely comparing Dati’s stanzas with their main source 
(the Latin translation by Aliander de Cosco of one of Columbus’ letters in Spanish to the 
Court of Spain), the article demonstrates how Dati dismembered and re-assembled his 
material in accordance with the improvisational devices of the cantare, the poetic genre in 
which he was working. In so doing, Dati replaces the narrative sequence of Columbus’ (and 
Cosco’s) report with his own ordering. He substitutes for the coherence of the original a mode 
of ‘impulsive’ communication, a manner of transmission essentially indifferent to narrative 
flow, and he does so to the point where we can theorize what might be called a ‘poetics of 
confusion’, a compositional strategy which is perhaps to be identified with the cantari style. 

Keywords: Cantare, Columbus/Vespucci, Discovery, Orality, Textual Dismembering

1. The Discovery in Octaves

It is well known – it has been, actually, the object of a truly ‘oceanic’ 
bibliography – that the first documents announcing the discovery of ‘new 
islands’ (Columbus) or a ‘new world’ (Vespucci) were promptly translated 
into ‘poetry’ – that is, if by ‘poetry’ we mean simple versification. These first 
documents were transposed into octaves, the metrical form which, from the 
end of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth, was in Italy 
an ubiquitous instrument ‘bon à tout faire’, a stanza applicable to the most 



riccardo bruscagli64 

diverse subjects, chivalric (obviously), but also hagiographical, historical, 
and, in a manner of speaking, journalistic. Given the constant use of this 
verse form, it is not surprising that the Letter of Christopher Columbus to 
Luis de Santángel (or/and to Raphael Sanchez) was recast by the Florentine 
Giuliano Dati into a cantare, La storia della inventione delle nuove insule di 
Channaria Indiane (1493);1 or that, a few years later, the Letter of Vespucci to 
Soderini was reworked into the octaves included by Matteo Fortini in his Libro 
dell’Universo (post 1514; ‘Book of the Universe’). And yet, these two literary 
productions share little besides their metrical structure. Of course, it is true that 
their authors were both Florentine. Indeed, this fact is a significant testimony 
to the ties between the Discovery and Florence, ties that involved the city’s 
cultural influence, as well as its prominent network of commercial activities 
all over Europe, particularly in Spain and Portugal. After all, more than mere 
chance was at work when the ‘New World’ received its name from a Florentine 
representative of the mercantile aristocracy of the city. The poems of Fortini 
and Dati were part of this Florentine nexus, but nonetheless from a literary, 
or simply a communicative, point of view their compositions are two very 
different things. Among other considerations, Matteo Fortini’s ‘translation’ of 
the Soderini letter is not an autonomous text. Rather, it is part of a voluminous 
geographic-cosmological treatise. This larger work is an encyclopedic endeavor 
– entitled not accidentally Il libro dell’Universo – and the recent ‘American’ 
news was included as an intriguing addition to the general trove of information 
accumulated by its author. Thus, Fortini’s version of the letter constituted 
an up-to-date expansion of an already copious discourse.2 It was offered as 
new knowledge, albeit Fortini composed his stanzas in accordance with the 
standard format of the cantari, so that his opening treatment of the Vespucci 
material, couched in three successive cantos, sounds old-fashioned, not to say 
trite, with its stereotypical invocation to God:

1 Cantare: according to the common understanding of Italian scholarship, the term is 
used, here and in the following pages, to identify a poetic text in octaves, of variable length, 
loosely dating from the XV and XVIII centuries. Such texts are always in precarious balance 
between the nature of ‘oral’ and ‘written’ texts: see Farenga, who argues in favour of a total 
destination of Dati’s work for print (‘The characteristic element in the works of Giuliano Dati 
is the fact that they were totally conceived to be published in print’; 2011, 30). This argument 
seems to me too absolute: even though we know that Giuliano Dati was not a canterino 
himself, and that he surely promoted the printed editions of his cantari, it is equally obvious 
that they were made available, through the new technology, for professional performers. In 
other words, I don’t think that the ‘oral’ system of communication, in such works, was just a 
literary ruse. For an illuminating case in this sense, see Degl’Innocenti 2008.

2 Il libro dell’Universo is a codex unicus, now in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence 
(Magliabechiano VII 172), and was never published in its entirety. Since the author declares 
he is over seventy years old, it must have been composed after 1514. The octaves which 
translate the Vespucci letter have been published by Formisano 1986. 



inventione delle nuove insule 65 

O trionfante Iesù benedetto,
volgi verso di me gli occhi e la facc[i]a,
perdona al servo che si picchia il petto
e fatti sempre croce delle bracc[i]a,
perché tu gli perdoni ogni difetto
e della grazia Tua degno lo facc[i]a,
acciò che in questo fine I’ m’apparecchi
far penitenzia de’ peccati vecchi … (VII 1)3

Onnipotente, magno, alto e divino,
sincera carità, unica e pura,
specchio dove uno Iddio si vede trino,
che formò e cieli e l’umana natura,
tu ha’ diritto la str[a]da e ’l cammino
pel fine dell’umana creatura:
così drizza la mano e lo ’ngegno,
tanto ch’i’ g[i]unga al disiato segno … (VIII 1)4

Po’ che Tu se’ quel ben(e) che tutto vedi,
vero Messia, anzi Verbo incarnato,
e se’ colui che le grazie concedi
a chi Te l’à con fede dimandato,
i’ che sto genuflesso a’ santi piedi
come Tuo servo e di Te innamorato,
supplico e priego almen(o) ch’i’ viva tanto
ch’i’ conduca alla fin qu[e]sto mie canto. (IX 1)5 

2. Octaves to be Read, Octaves to be Listened to

Among the other differences between the translations of Fortini and Dati, 
the most striking is that, while the octaves of the former’s Libro dell’Universo 

3 ‘O triumphant blessèd Jesus, pray turn to me Your eyes and Your face, pardon your 
penitent chest-beating servant, keep Your arms spread out on the Cross, so that You may 
absolve him of all his errors, and make him worthy of Your Grace, and I prepare myself, to 
such an end, in order to atone for my obdurate sins’. Dati’s poem was translated by Martin 
Davies (1991). Here I present my own translation which is more literal. Unless otherwise 
stated, also translations from other works are mine.

4 ‘O You Omnipotent, great, celestial and divine, You, sincere Charity, unique and 
pure, You, mirror where One God reflects into Three, You who made the heavens and 
human beings, You have traced the path and the way which lead humanity to its end: the 
same way lead my hand and my mind, so that I could reach my desired goal’. 

5 ‘Since You are the Good that sees everything, You true Messiah, indeed incarnate 
Verbum, and you are the One that bestows graces upon those who requested them in good 
faith, I, who here am kneeling at Your feet, Your servant, Your worshipper, I beseech and 
pray that at least I may live long enough to finish this song of mine’.



riccardo bruscagli66 

were clearly composed to be read quietly in private, those of the latter’s Storia 
della inventione delle nuove insule were intended to be read aloud and listened 
to. Fortini addresses himself to an audience of readers more than once: 

Lettore, I’ t’ò per insin a qui mostro
come l’acqua divide l’universo … (VII 2, 1-2)6

Quanto tempo, lettore, invan si spese,
quanto mar si solcò … (VII 12, 1-2)7

Se tu vuo’ pur, lettor, ch’i’ ti raguagli, 
questo paese, chi ben lo procura … (VII 54, 1-2)8

Io ò fatto, lettor, questo discorso,
perché non manchi nulla o ’ndrieto resti … (VII 82bis, 1-2)9

Non più, caro lettor(e), ch’i’ vo’ far festa,
ch’è ’l sol [n]el fin del suo meridiano … (VII 108, 1-2)10

Però, lettore, non ti dar più affanno
e tien’ questo per regola infallante … (VIII 121, 1-2)11

S’i’ mi son, lettor mio, troppo ito a spasso
l’ò fatto per chiarirti … (VIII 124, 1-2)12

De’ leva, lettor mio, un po’ l’ingegno,
e nota di costui la fantasia … (VIII 138, 1-2)13

Tutta la frotta ed io vedem[m]o Iris
- che vuol dir, lettor mio, l’arcobaleno … (VIII 140, 1-2)14

… se non ti par(e), lettor(e), questo abbastanza,
guarda questo disegno. (VIII 143, 6-7)15

6 ‘Reader, I have shown to you so far how water parts the universe’. Here and in the 
following passages quoted, the italics of lettor and lettore are mine. 

7 ‘How much time, reader, was spent in vain, how an immense sea was navigated’.
8 ‘If you desire, reader, that I inform you about this land, about who takes care of it’.
9 ‘Reader, I made this digression, so that nothing be missed, nothing neglected’.
10 ‘And now enough, dear reader, because the sun is at the end of its meridian course’.
11 ‘Therefore, reader, worry no more, and keep this as an infallible rule’.
12 ‘If I have been wandering a little too much, my reader, I have done so in order to 

explain better to you’.
13 ‘Well, reader, open up your mind a little, and note the fancy of this man’. 
14 ‘The whole crew and myself all of us saw Iris - which means, my reader, the rainbow’.
15 ‘If this seems not enough to you, reader, look at this figure’.



inventione delle nuove insule 67 

Dati, instead, emphatically and from the start addresses an audience of 
listeners: ‘S’i’ ti volessi e’ sua tituli dire, / o auditore, I’ ti potre’ tediare’ 
(XIII, 1-2; see here below for other occurrences).16 Obviously, this does not 
mean that Giuliano Dati was himself a canterino. He was a prelate, and one 
of some importance in both his native Florence and his adopted Rome.17 An 
intimate of several Popes, he was an especially ardent admirer of Alexander 
VI (a fact that earned him the unsavory title of ‘mitred sycophant’; Harrisse 
1866, 29), a Pope all-too-well-known for his sexual excesses, but who might 
be better remembered for the important role he played in the early stages of 
the New World’s Discovery. Not, then, a canterino himself, Giuliano Dati 
was nevertheless a prolific producer of cantari, but it should be emphasized 
that for him the use of that verse form did not mean what it meant for his 
more literary contemporaries, such as Matteo Maria Boiardo. Dati was a 
functional versifier, whose lines betray no ambition to ennoble the genre 
and whose treatment exhibits no intention of transforming the octave 
into the glorious vehicle for courtly poems that it became in the hands of 
others. Instead, Dati remained faithful to the popular, even plebeian level of 
discourse typical of the era’s octave pamphlets, as even the physical nature 
of his printed works demonstrates. His publications generally consist of no 
more than four pages, are crudely illustrated, and are often printed on cheap 
paper. Surviving imprints of his pamphlets are quite scarce, due in part 
to their humble status: they were bought to be read and discarded. What 
survives may be described as the relics of an ephemeral market, where such 
imprints were often purchased in the very piazza where their texts were being 
– or had just been – performed.18 A devout, conventionally religious figure 
moving between Florence and Rome in the midst of the fifteenth century’s 
triumphant Humanism, Dati seems to have been entirely unaffected by the 
‘new world’ that was having an explosive impact all around him. Or maybe 
we should say that he embodied the intellectual compartmentalization in 
his time, the complex stratification of culture wherein a flux of tenaciously 
traditional, devotional, even folkloric elements kept flowing under the 
stupendous achievements of the new classicism:

Indifferent to the Humanism which was triumphing in Literature, Science, 
Philosophy, deaf to the domineering secular culture, pagan in its substance, classical 
in its elegance, he is a typical representative of the ‘popular culture’ of his time. This 

16 ‘If I wanted to tell you his titles, listener, I would bore you’.
17 The most complete account of Giuliano Dati’s life and works is found in Curcio 

and Farenga 1987. Further details in Farenga 2011; very detailed information about Dati’s 
pious participation in the activity of the Roman Confraternita del Gonfalone in Wisch and 
Newbigin 2013.

18 For a full description of Dati’s poemetti, see Dati 1967, 8-10. 



riccardo bruscagli68 

culture would keep more or less intact the traditional customs and interests of the 
Middle Ages and was still impenetrable to the influence of the new doctrines and 
the peculiar trends of the courts and their intellectuals. (Olschki 1938, 291) 

Such critical judgement (which is, after all, a little dated – it was written 
in 1938) might sound overly harsh. Yet it is difficult not to agree with the 
same author, when he states that Giuliano Dati ‘was the first to share with 
the Italian illiterates the details of the great endeavour’ (298), because this is 
exactly what constitutes the most interesting aspect of Dati’s cantare, both in 
itself and in comparison with Fortini’s octaves. In Dati’s unpretentious verse, 
the novelty of the newly discovered islands is reported by an unrelentingly 
old-fashioned sensibility and is couched in an extremely traditional literary 
format. Nevertheless, unlike the much more ambitious and erudite Libro 
dell’Universo of Matteo Fortini – which was unpublished in its day and 
remained for a long time unknown – the agile cantare of Giuliano Dati 
enjoyed an immediate success. We can count three editions (that we are aware 
of ) in the year 1493 alone: one in Rome (by E. Silber, on the 15th of June); a 
second in Florence (by ‘Johannes dictus florentinus’, October 25th); and the 
third in Florence again (publisher unknown, October 26th). This is the way 
the news of the New World’s discovery was disseminated throughout Italy: 
in print, to be sure, but in a manner of print that retained the unmistakable 
marks of oral transmission. This strongly suggests that the poem was addressed 
to the same crowds for which Dati had provided, and would continue to 
provide, stories of Saints, descriptions of places, chronicles of contemporary 
sensational events. The oral quality of his work has occasioned some rather 
imaginative responses: ‘Questo e tutti gli altri poemetti che di lui si conoscono 
deggiono aver deliziato molte volte le pubbliche e le famigliari adunate: e chi 
sa quante fiate il canterino di piazza li avrà ripetuti con modulate cadenze 
innanzi all’attenta e rapita moltitudine!’ (Dati 1876, 142).19 A bit ‘romantic,’ 
no doubt, but probably not far from the truth. And, in any case, the question 
remains: how was the new wine poured into the old wineskin? How was such 
an astonishing piece of news made compatible with so traditional a medium 
as the cantare in ottave?

3. From Latin Prose to Vernacular Verses

As we know, Dati didn’t translate directly from Christopher Columbus’ 
letters in Spanish which announced the discovery of the new islands to 

19 ‘This, and all the other brief poems he wrote (at least, those we know of ) must have 
often entertained public and private audiences: and who knows how many times a street 
canterino performed them again and again, in his musical voice, in front of an enthusiastic, 
fascinated multitude of listeners!’.



inventione delle nuove insule 69 

Ferrando and Isabella and to members of their entourage. The complicated 
story of Columbus’ early accounts – starting with the perhaps legendary 
pergamino (sort of parchment brief ) written in the midst of the tempest 
that caught the explorer on his return trip at a location very near the coast 
of Spain – has been studiously reconstructed and progressively modified as 
more and more documents have come to light. This has been done most 
recently and conclusively by Luciano Formisano.20 The Spanish version of 
these documents, however, had no impact on Giuliano Dati. The text that 
he had before him was the Latin translation of the letters sent by Columbus 
to Luis de Santángel and Rapheal Sanchez. This was a quite basic, inelegant 
translation, by Aliander de Cosco, a member of the Roman court. As poor 
as Cosco’s Latin was, it nevertheless marked the precise moment when the 
Discovery was made public, the announcement of an expanded cosmos, as 
well as the acquisition by the crown of Spain of an unforeseen, immensely 
rich and promising new territory. The keen eyes of modern philologists 
have demonstrated, though, that Giuliano Dati probably made use of other 
sources. He perhaps used another Latin version – now lost – of Columbus’ 
letters. Maybe he even had available to him some Spanish text, which would 
not have been impossible to understand for somebody like Dati who, after 
all, was familiar with a Spanish Pope and his Spanish-speaking court. But 
regardless of what other versions might have been known to Dati, for our 
purposes it will be enough to presume that Cosco’s letter was the source of 
Giuliano Dati’s cantare. Enough, that is, for us to examine the procedures 
by which a letter sent to be read became a cantare, i.e. a small poem intended 
to be performed and listened to.

4. The Frame of the Story

The Storia della inventione delle nuove insule consists of 68 octaves, plus an 
explicit in which the origin of the poem is clearly laid out: Finita la Storia 

20 Luciano Formisano has published a final account of the question together with the 
pertinent texts, offered in the most currently reliable critical edition (see Colombo 1992). 
The book contains the Lettera a Luis de Santángel e Gabriel Sanchez (Testo Spagnolo and 
Versione Toscana), De insulis in mari Indico nuper repertis (Facsimile, critical edition and 
translation: it is the Latin of Cosco’s translation). For Dati’s text, Formisano follows, 
with some further corrections, the edition established by Mario Ruffini (Dati 1967). See 
De Lollis ‘Illustrazione [of the Santángel/Sanchez letter]’, in De Lollis 1892, liii-lvi, and 
Formisano in Colombo 1992, 51. Just one year before, the same texts had been published 
(and translated into English) in Davies 1991. Davies argued for a more complicated relation 
between Dati’s cantare and the Latin translation of Columbus’ letter, given ‘a number of 
points independent of the Latin that we have. All this can be resolved if we assume that 
what Dati saw was a Latin translation of the lost letter attached to the surviving Spanish 
letter to Santángel’ (20). 



riccardo bruscagli70 

della invention delle nuove insule di Cannaria indiane, tracte d’una pìstola di 
Cristofano Colombo e per messer Giuliano Dati tradutta di latino in versi vulgari 
a laude de la celestial corte e a consolation della Cristiana religion …21 These 68 
octaves, however, do not simply correspond to the Latin text. The actual report 
of the ‘inventione’ is framed by a series of thirteen octaves (at the beginning) 
plus two octaves (at the end), which establish and confirm the parameters of 
the genre. The cantare duly opens with a characteristic invocation to God, 
conjured up to assist the canto of the poet-performer:

Omnipotente Idio, che ’l tutto regie,
donami gratia ch’io possa cantare
a laude Tua e di Tuo santa legie
cosa che piaccia a chi starà ’scoltare. (I, 1-4)22

Then Dati proceeds to contextualize the subject of his report – the ‘isole 
trovate’ (I, 8) – by placing it within a larger account of the ‘fatti egregi’ of the 
‘antichi regi / e princip ’e signori’ (II, 1-2).23 He mentions, quite randomly, 
Belùs, Anfitrione, ‘de’ Lacedemoni el gran Tetrate’, Laborès, Oreste, ‘il 
principe Giesippe’, Tolomeo, il ‘gran Faraon’, ‘quel fiesolan re Atthalante’, 
and, last but not least, ‘Allexandro magnio papa sesto’, ‘sesto Allexandro 
papa Borgia Ispano, / giusto nel iudicare e tutto humano’ (VI, 2, 7-8).24 
The switch from the fabulous kings and heroes of antiquity to a champion 
of contemporary politics is indicative not only of the flattering mode of 
this Vatican ‘sycophant’ but also of Dati’s shrewd oratorical technique. The 
author introduces the shocking news of his report within the well-known 
and reassuring framework of references to a traditional repertoire, so that 
the contemporary is seen as contiguous to the ancient, and the ‘isole trovate’ 
are from the very beginning presented as a new chapter of a coherent and 
connected narration. In this way, the listener is at once stimulated – that is, 
offered something new –, and reassured – given something in the vein of what 
he/she was accustomed to hear in the piazza, in the market, in the situations 
and locations of contemporary everyday life. The pressure of the contemporary 
becomes more and more apparent in the last octave of Dati’s framing device, 

21 ‘Here ends the History of the Discovery of the new Indian Canary Islands, drawn 
from an epistle of Christopher Columbus and translated from Latin into vernacular verses 
by messer Giuliano Dati, in praise of the celestial Court and for the comfort of the Christian 
religion’.

22 ‘Omnipotent God, You who all govern, give me grace so that I can sing in Your praise 
and in praise of Your Holy Gospel something that may please those who listen’.

23 ‘egregious endeavours;’ ‘ancient kings, princes and Lords’.
24 ‘Belùs. Amphitruo, the great Tetrate of Sparta, Laborès, Oretes, … prince Joseph, 

Ptolemy. the great Pharao, that famous Atlas from Fiesole, … Alexander VI Borgia, the 
Spanish Pope, the fairest judge and champion of humanity’.



inventione delle nuove insule 71 

where he introduces, by way of a simple possessive, the overarching hero 
of his account, the king ‘Ferrando’: ‘E chi leggessi po’ del suo Ferrando, 
/ christianissimo rege infra ’christiani …’ (VII, 1-2)25 Here ‘suo’ refers to 
Pope Alexander and underscores the shared nationality of the pope and the 
Spanish king. It makes for an audacious transition, a sudden movement that 
is typical of the arbitrary, almost Pindaric, style of the canterino. The sharp 
transition does not shy away from a flagrant anacoluthon (a characteristic of 
oral poetry), but the ungrammatical dislocation does serve to push Dati’s 
audience closer to the very subject of the cantare:

E chi leggessi po’ del suo Ferrando,
christianissimo rege infra ’cristiani,
che l’Isabella tiene al suo comando,
unica sposa sua, che nelle mani
tanti reami in dota a lui donando
gli à dati, intendi ben, con pensier’ sani,
ché gli è re della Spagna e di Castella
e di Leon, Toledo villa bella. (VII)26

Dati’s framework of introductory and concluding octaves testifies to the 
ambiguity of this literary genre, which is balanced – and often oscillates – 
between its status as oral and written (and printed) text. As we have observed, 
from the very beginning of Dati’s poem the marks of oral transmission are 
clear. Dati’s intention is ‘cantare … cosa che piaccia a chi starà ’scoltare’ (I, 
2, 4).27 The addressee of his texts is an ‘auditore’ (‘S’i’ ti volessi e’ sua tituli 
dire, / o auditore, i’ ti potre’ tediare’ (XIII, 1-2),28 to whom these first octaves 
speak directly with an eloquent ‘tu’ (you): ‘so che inteso l’hai’ (III, 4),29 ‘come 
saprai’ (III, 6),30 ‘certo farei la tua mente stupire’ (V, 3),31 ‘Or vo’ tornare al 
mio primo trattato / dell’isole trovate, igniote a.tte’ (XIV, 1-2),32 ‘come tu 

25 ‘And what if somebody read about his Ferrando, the most Christian king among the 
Christians’.

26 ‘And what if somebody read about his Ferrando, the most Christian king among the 
Christians, he who commands over his Isabella, his only spouse, who putting in his hands 
her dowry, gave him possession of so many kingdoms: listen well, with full attention, that 
he is the king of Spain, Castile, Leon, and Toledo, the beautiful city’.

27 ‘to sing … something which will be pleasant to its listeners’.
28 ‘ If I wanted to tell you his titles, o listener, I would bore you’. 
29  ‘I know you heard of it’.
30 ‘as you may know’.
31 ‘I would make you marvel for sure’.
32 ‘Now I want to go back to my original subject of the newly found islands, that you 

do not know’.



riccardo bruscagli72 

’ntenderai qui ascoltando’ (XXIII, 4).33 Finally, at the end of the cantare, a 
whole crowd of listeners is addressed: ‘Magnific’ e discreti circhunstanti, / 
quest’è gran chosa, certo, da pensare…’ (LXVII, 1-2).34 And there is an explicit 
reference to the poem’s orality: the cantare is referred to as a text that ‘a laude 
del Signior si canta e dice’ (LXVIII 7).35 At the same time, Dati touches upon 
his experience as a reader: ‘I’ ò già letto de li antichi regi’ (II, 1).36 He refers 
to the stories of his ancient kings and heros as ‘read stories’ (‘come se legie’, 
III, 4; ‘che, se tu legi, tu.lle troverai’, V, 6).37 We are confronted here with a 
circularity which is inherent in the very nature of these literary opuscules. 
Items intended, as we have mentioned, to be bought and read at the time 
their texts were performed, they constitute the equivalent of a musical score, 
printed matter closely connected to a vocal presentation, but destined possibly 
to survive the performance and be saved as a personal library, no matter how 
humble such a library might be.

33 ‘as you shall understand, by listening here’.
34 ‘Magnificent and kind people here gathered around me, this is for sure a great thing, 

worthy of reflection’.
35 ‘it is sung and spoken in praise of the Lord’. Such procedures are common, as is to 

be expected, in all the other cantari by Dati. It is worth quoting the initial octaves of La 
gran magnificenza del Prete Janni (The great magnificence of Priest Janni), where the religious 
invocation (octave I) is combined with an eloquent address to the audience (octave II), which 
echoes quite precisely the beginning of Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato: a minimal, but telling 
evidence of some sort of contamination, within the precinct of the ‘poem in octaves’ genre, 
between high and low style: ‘O glorioso Omnipotente idio, / che col tuo sangue el pecato 
pagasti / da noi commesso tanto iniquo & rio, / & con la tua morte ci ricomperasti, / donami 
gratia dolce signor mio, / ch’io dica in versi una parte, che basti, / d’un de’ principi tua infra 
christiani, / maximo prete soopra gl’indiani. // O venerandi e discrete auditori, / che cose 
nuove udir vi delectate, / maxime in versi, perché da’ doctori / antichamente queste son 
tractate, / ben che ’n diversi modi gli autori / le loro oppenioni hanno notate, / gli orecchi 
attenti, & lo ingegno tenete, / & cose magne certo intenderete’ (Dati 1876, I-II; ‘O glorious 
God omnipotent, you who atoned our so grave and cruel sin with your own blood, and saved 
us by your death, bestow upon me, sweet Lord, enough grace so that I be able to say in 
verse something sufficient about one of your Christian princes, the highest priest among 
the Indians. O you, esteemed and wise listeners, who take pleasure in hearing new things – 
especially in verse - because they have been dealt with by the ancient sages, even though the 
authors have registered their opinions in different ways, keep alert your ears, alert your minds, 
and for sure you shall listen to great things’.) See Orlando innamorato: ‘Signori e cavallier 
che ve adunati / per odir cose dilettose e nove / stati attenti e quieti, ed ascoltati / la bella 
istoria che ‘l mio canto muove; / e vedereti i gesti smisurati, l’altra fatica e le mirabil prove 
/ che fece il franco Orlando per amore / nel tempo del re Carlo imperatore’ (Boiardo 1995, 
I, I, 1-8; ‘You who assemble – lords and knights – to hear things new, things of delight, be 
still, attentive, listen to the rare events that prompt my song; you shall see deeds no man can 
measure, stupendous feats, amazing labours that bold Orlando wrought for love, when King 
Charles reigned as emperor’).

36 ‘I have read about the ancient kings’.
37 ‘which you can find as you can read them’.



inventione delle nuove insule 73 

In his introductory stanzas, Giuliano Dati has not yet touched upon his 
Latin source. Nor does he do so for six more octaves. Instead there is a further 
inner frame of the ‘translation’ which provides the back-story of the Discovery 
itself. In these six octaves, the narrator compresses the many incidents leading 
to Columbus’ arrival at the New World. As we know, these incidents were very 
complex, but they are dealt with here with the simple naïveté of a fairy tale. The 
hero of the story is a visionary treasure-hunter who proposes to his king a practical 
bargain in direct, vernacular terms: ‘Vo’ mettete la roba, io la persona…’ (XVI, 
1).38 He supports his proposition by quoting (or misquoting) a proverb from the 
Gospels (‘perché, dice ’l Vangelio in lege nuova, / che chi cerchando va ispesso 
truova’ (XVI, 7-8).39 The hero’s enabler is a king at first a little resistant (‘po’ che 
l’ebbe e.rre più volte udito … ’; XVII, 1),40 but soon smiling (‘soridendo’ XVII, 2) 
at the prospect of a lot of land (‘molta terra’, XV, 2) to be added to his possessions. 
The story proceeds with a predictably adventurous voyage, which elicits a dramatic 
reference to Ulysses’ trip to the edge of the earth as described in Dante’s Comedy. 
Columbus, according to Dati, ‘navicò più giorni per perduto’ (XIX, 1),41 and thus 
he is analogous to Ulysses who, in the Inferno, is interrogated by Virgil about 
‘dove per lui perduto a morir gissi’ (If XXVI, 84).42 On the other hand, the high-
brow allusion (but one not so unfamiliar, especially for a Florentine), is balanced 
by the down-to-earth common sense of the narrator, who once again resorts to 
a proverb: ‘… chi va in mar non è mai tuto, / ma sempre combattendo in aqua e 
vento, / perdesi spesso el guadagni’ e ’l tributo’ (XIX, 3-5).43

5. A Change of Voices

At the end of octave XX, Giuliano Dati finally starts to engage with Cosco’s 
text. But, once again, we are not given a literal ‘translation’ of Cosco’s Latin 
prose. Here, when he starts establishing a closer relation, Dati lets himself to 
be trapped, as it were, in a sort of structural incertitude, and this has curious 
consequences for his narration. After his short account of Columbus’ perilous 
navigation, he plunges into his subject, the amazing Discovery: 

38 ‘You contribute the money, I, my person’.
39 ‘Indeed, the new law of the Gospel says that he who seeks, will find’.
40 ‘after the king heard him many times’.
41 ‘navigated many days with no direction’.
42 In Longfellow’s translation: ‘Whither, being lost, he went away to die’ (Alighieri 1867, 

I, XXVI, 84). Pio Rajna (1920, 224) pointed to the highly stylized meaning of the word 
perduto in the Arthurian vocabulary, where it designates those knights who ‘departed for 
adventures, entered some forests, never again were heard of, so that people fear, or believe, 
that they are dead’.

43 ‘those who navigate are never secure, but fighting water and wind incessantly, often 
they lose their earnings and tribute’.



riccardo bruscagli74 

…
Ma come piaque a Dio, che mai non erra,
in trentatré giornate pose in terra.

E misse dua de’ suoi huomini armati
a cerchar per le terre ch’àn trovate
se forse si schoprisin qualche aguati; 
ma caminaron ben per tre giornate
che non si furon mai ’ndietro voltati,
e non trovaron mai vill’o brighate. (XIX 7-8, XX 1-6)44

It is worth noting here that the ‘invention’ of the islands is told to us by the 
voice of the main narrator, Dati himself, or, better, by his canterino persona. 
The information that he finds in his source is seamlessly included in his own 
narration. This goes on for four more octaves, stanzas filled with what are 
already crucial observations about the nature of the newly found islands and 
their inhabitants. Then, all of a sudden, the narrator’s voice gives way to the 
voice of Columbus himself, and the cantare will continue from this moment 
until the very end as an open paraphrase of Christopher’s ‘pìstola magna’, 
the ‘great letter’ which the great explorer addressed to his king: ‘come dirà 
questa pìstola magna, / da Christofano scritta a.re di Spagna: // Perch’i’ so, 
Signor mio, che gran piacere / harà la Vostra Magna Signoria, / quando 
potrà intendere o sapere / de le cose ch’ò prese in mia balia … ’ (XXIII, 7-8, 
XXIV, 1-4).45 This is vivid, and yet, by going back in the voice of Columbus 
to the ‘invention’ of the islands, Dati complicates his narration with some 
unavoidable repetition. The duration of the journey is reiterated (‘dal partir 
mio a trentatré giornate / molt’isole e gran gente i’ ò trovate’, XXIV, 7-8)46 
and the anticipation of various characteristics of the Discovery (the nudity 
of the natives, the motif of the ‘fuga al monte’, the escape to the hills) creates 
some confusion in the orderly account of the facts. In other words, Dati 
doesn’t seem to be fully in control of the sudden transition from the voice 
of the canterino to the voice of Columbus. Nor does he appear to be in total 
control of the shift from a communicative system wherein the addressee was 
the audience around the performer (treated, as we have seen, with the amicable 
‘tu’) and a new one, where the listener is above all the king (duly addressed 

44 ‘But, thanks to God, who never fails, after thirty-three days he went ashore. Then he 
sent two of his men, armed, to search the land that they had just found, in case there might 
be some ambush; but they walked for three days without ever looking back, and they did 
not find either town or tribe’.

45 ‘as this great letter will say, written by Christopher to the king of Spain: since I know, 
my Lord, that Your Majesty will truly be pleased, when you will realise and be informed of 
the possessions that have come under my control’.

46 ‘thirty three days from my departure I have found many islands and many people’.



inventione delle nuove insule 75 

with the respectful ‘voi’). The result is a structurally odd passage; but it might 
be interesting to observe that something similar happens in the octaves of 
Matteo Fortini. Fortini, too, at a certain point decides to give up his voice and 
let his hero Amerigo speak for himself in continuing the narration. Actually, 
during Fortini’s much longer and complex account, this sort of narrative 
transition happens more than once and without any warning. The narrative 
continually switches back and forth between the voice of Matteo (the voice 
that says ‘io’ and is tasked with paraphrasing Amerigo’s prose in verse) and the 
voice of Amerigo himself, who speaks instead in the first-person plural (‘noi’ 
– that is, ‘me and my crew’). The great majority of the time, Fortini adopts 
this second solution, with the result that his versification exhibits an almost 
obsessive use of the simple-past tense (cercammo, trovammo, lasciammo …), a 
verb tense very useful to the author in providing ready-made, easy rhymes.47

47 ‘To the point that in the octaves of ser Matteo the actor-author of the “four days” can 
identify with his interpreter or spokesperson from the XVI century; as demonstrated by the 
blurred distinction between the text which is narrated and the text which is narrating, between 
Vespucci as the addressing agent and an addressee who does not recoil, after all, from declaring 
his name’ (Formisano 1986, 335). This structural oscillation between different narrative voices 
is not, indeed, the only similarity between the works of Dati and Fortini. It seems that the mere 
use of the octave induces in such works similar communicative devices: namely, a metanarrative 
attitude which in the cantari becomes a systematic simulation of orality. In other genres, it reveals 
the very action of ‘writing’, if not performing, the text. This is what happens, quite interestingly, 
at the end of Fortini’s Canto VII, where he takes his leave from his ‘lettore’ in terms very similar 
to the typical ‘farewell’ of the canterini to their audiences: ‘Non più, caro lettor(e), ch’i’ vo’ far 
festa, / chè ’l sol [n]el fin del suo meridiano, / dove fa fin el cerchio della sesta / e passa co’ suo’ 
crin(i) nell’oceàno. / I’ vo a mostrare un paese che resta / discosto, lungo, salvatico e strano: / però 
mi vo’ posare in su le piume, / finché torni domane a farci lume. // O signor mio, s’io dovessi 
morire, / questo decimo canto che tu vedi / intendo e vo’ lo per tuo amor finire; / perché questo 
né altro non mi chiedi; / a te lo reco, signore, e vo’ tel dire, / mentre che in ozio in camera ti 
siedi, / perché la voglia el desiderio muove / a voler sempre udir le cose nuove’ (VII, 108-109). 
‘Enough, dear reader, I want to be done, since the sun is at the end of its meridian voyage, where 
the circle of the sixth hour comes to an end, and the sun dips its locks in the Ocean. I am about 
to illustrate a land that is far away, very large, wild and strange; that is why I want to get some 
rest on my bed, until the sun comes back tomorrow to illuminate us. O my Lord, even if I had 
to die, I intend and want to finish for your love this tenth canto which is under your eyes – since 
this, and nothing else, you ask from me. I am bringing it to you, my lord, and I want to recite it 
to you, while you are enjoying some leisure in your bedroom, because your craving always moves 
your desire towards listening to ever new things’. It should be noted how, in the last verses of 
octave CIX, the written texts, intended for a ‘lettore’, become a text that the writer plans to ‘dire’, 
that is, to read aloud, to his ‘signore,’ to his lord, in the peaceful setting of the latter’s ‘camera’, 
or private room. Thus, the final expression – ‘udir le cose nuove’ (‘hearing new things’) – fully 
mimics the ‘oral’ language of the true canterini.



riccardo bruscagli76 

6. Dati versus Cosco: a comparison

This initial structural oddity is not the only peculiar way Giuliano Dati deals 
with his source. If we follow the development of the Latin source letter, and 
divide it into narrative segments, or, let’s say, thematic cells, and if we then 
compare the result with the corresponding sequence of the cantare, we see that 
the two do not mirror each other very closely. The fact is, Giuliano Dati has 
totally dismembered and re-assembled the material of Cosco’s original Latin. 
Mario Ruffini has already noted Dati’s textual surgery, but for concision’s 
sake, or as he puts it, ‘per non tediare soverchiamente il lettore’ (‘not to 
bore too much his readers’), he decided to limit his demonstration to just a 
few examples (see Ruffini, in Dati 1967, 24). A complete, more analytical 
comparison, seems both feasible and intriguing, and I have undertaken it 
here. By sequencing the Latin prose and juxtaposing it with the corresponding 
lines of verse, we can obtain the following combined data (the numbers and 
titles of the individual segments, or ‘cells’, are mine):

i. The conquest

Quoniam suscepte provintie rem perfectam me consecutum fuisse gratum tibi fore 
scio, has constitui exarare. (146)48

XXIV
Perch’i’ so, Signor mio, che gran piacere
harà la Vostra Magna Signoria,
quando potrà intendere o sapere
de le cose ch’ò prese in mia balìa,
per virtù del Signore e Suo potere
e simil de la madre Sua Maria:
dal partir mio a trentatré giornate
molt’isole e gran gente i’ò trovate.49

48 ‘Since I know for sure that it will please you that I have fully perfected the conquest of the 
new territory, I decided to narrate in detail the whole thing’. All the quotations from the Latin 
letter of Aliander Cosco follow the text of the Formisano edition (Colombo 1992, 146-162).

49 ‘Since I know, my Lord, that Your Majesty will be pleased, when you will realise and 
are informed of the possessions that have come under my control, thank to God and His 
might – and His Mother Mary – thirty-three days after my departure I found many islands 
and a great number of people’.



inventione delle nuove insule 77 

ii. Official possession of the territory

Ubi plurimas insulas innumeris habitatas hominibus repperi, quarum omnium pro 
felicissimo rege nostro preconio celebrato et vexillis estensis, contradicente nemine, 
possessionem accepi. (146)50

XXIII
E Christofano e gli altri dismontati,
armati tutti, el paese cercando,
insule molte e huomin’ à trovati
come tu ’ntenderai qui ascoltando,
e gli stendardi de.re à rizati,
e a ciascune il suo nome mutando,
come dirà questa pìstola magna,
da Christofano scritta a.re di Spagna.51

iii. Renaming the islands

Primeque earum Divi Salvatoris nomen imposui, cuius fretus auxilio tam ad hanc, 
quam ad ceteras alias pervenimus: eam vero Indi / ‘Guanahanyn’ vocant. Aliarum 
etiam unamquanque novo nomine noncupavi: quippe aliam ‘insulam Sancte Marie 
Conceptionis’, aliam ‘Fernandinam’, aliam ‘Hysabellam’, aliam ‘Iohanam’, et sic de 
reliquis appellari iussi. (146)52

XXV
L’isola prima ch’io trovai, Signore,
i’ l’ò per nome facta nominare
Insula Magnia di San Salvatore;
e la seconda poi feci chiamare
Conceptio Marie, a Suo honore;
dipoi la terza feci battezare 
per Vostra Signoria ch’è tanto ornata:
Insola Ferrandina è nominata.

50 ‘Where I found many islands inhabited by innumerable people, of which all I took 
possession in the name of our most blessed king, after a public reading of the act, with our 
flags unfolded, and nobody making any resistance’.

51 ‘And Christopher and the others, once disembarked, all armed, searching the new 
land, discovered many islands and many people, as you will know if you keep listening: they 
raised the royal flag, and proceeded in changing the name to each one of those islands, as 
this great letter will tell you, written by Christopher to the king of Spain’.

52 ‘and I called the first one with the name of our Saviour, thanks to whose aid we 
reached this island, as well as the others; the Indians call it ‘Guanahanyn’. I also gave a new 
name to each one also of the other islands: indeed one ‘Island of the Conception of Saint 
Mary’, another ‘Fernandina’, another one ‘Isabella’, another ‘Johanna’, and similarly I had 
re-named all the others’.



riccardo bruscagli78 

XXVI
E la quart’Isabella fo chiamare
per la Regina ch’è tanto onorata;
e alla quinta il nome volsi dare
che l’isola Giovanna sia chiamata;
e la sesta d’un nome volsi ornare
che congruo mi parse a quella fiata,
che La Spagnuola quella si chiamassi,
perché mi par che chosì meritassi.53

iv. The escaping natives

Nulla tamen videns oppida municipiave in maritimis sita confinibus, preter aliquos 
vicos et predia rustica, cum quorum incolis loqui nequibam (quare simul ac nos 
videbant, surripiebant fugam), progrediebar ultra, existimans aliquam me urbem 
villasve inventurum. (148)54

XXII, 5-8
… e, come vidon questi, <al> le diserte
forte fugiendo ciascun si nasconde;
e questi dua indrieto si tornavano
e a Christofano ’l facto racontavano.55

v. Two searchers on the ground

Unde duos homines ex nostris in terram misi qui investigarent essetne rex in ea 
provincia urbesve alique. Hii per / tres dies ambularunt inveneruntque innumeros 
populos et habitat<i>ones, parvas tamen et absque ullo regimine; quapropter 
redierunt. (148)56

53 ‘The first island that I found, my Lord, I had it named Insula magna di San Salvatore; the 
second one I had renamed Conceptio Mariae, in honour of the Virgin Mary; the third one I had 
baptized for Your Majesty of such great nobility: now its name is Insola Ferrandina. The fourth 
one I named Isabella, for the so highly honoured queen; as for the fifth, I desired that it be called 
Giovanna island; the sixth one I wanted to grace with a name that I thought was fit, and I wanted 
her to be named La Spagnuola, since it seemed to me that she deserved that name’.

54 ‘Since I could not see any town or municipality on the coasts, except for some villages and 
rustic dwellings – and I could not talk with their inhabitants, because as soon as they saw us, they 
would flee, I stated to go ahead in the land, thinking that I would find some town or village’.

55 ‘… as soon as they saw them, everybody ran away into the wild to hide; these two went 
back and told the story to Christopher’. 

56 ‘Therefore I sent two of our men ashore, who would investigate if there was a ruler in 
that land, or some towns. These men walked for three days and found innumerable people and 
dwellings, but small and with no ruler; consequently they came back’.



inventione delle nuove insule 79 

XX
E misse dua de’ suoi huomini armati
a cerchar per le terre ch’àn trovate
se forse si schoprisin qualche aguati;
ma caminaron ben per tre giornate
che non si furon mai ’ndrieto voltati,
e non trovaron mai vill’o brighate; 
sì che si maraviglia chi chamina 
e più chi è restato alla marina.57

vi. The Giovanna island

… que dicta Iohana et alie ibidem insule quam fertilissime existunt. Hec multis 
atque tutissimis et latis, nec aliis quos unquam viderim comparandis, portibus 
est circumdata, multi maximi et salubres hanc interfluunt fluvii; multi quoque et 
eminentissimi in ea sunt montes. (148)58

XXIX, 1-2, 7-8
E questa e tutte l’altre è molto forte,
ma questa sopra l’altre par fortissima;59
…
E’ dotata di frutte molte e varie,
e liti, e porti, e chose necessarie,

XXX, 1-2
e molti fiumi, e massime montagne,
che son d’alteza molto ismisurate …60

57 ‘He sent two of his men, armed, to search the land that they had discovered, in 
order to investigate if there were ambushes; but they walked for three days without ever 
looking back, and they never found any towns or people; therefore these explorers were very 
surprised, and even more those who had remained on the shore’.

58 ‘The above-mentioned Iohana and the other islands around are extremely fertile. She is 
surrounded by many harbours, ample and very secure, not to be compared to any that I ever 
saw; she is crossed by very large rivers of the purest water; also there are in this island very 
high mountains’.

59 Cosco’s original text in reference to these islands reads fertilissime, according to the Spanish 
sources. We follow here the text established by Formisano, who keeps the misreading of Dati 
(‘fortissima’, ‘very strong’, instead of ‘fertilissima’, ‘very fertile’) while alerting the reader to it.

60 ‘This one, and all the others, are very strong, but this is the strongest over all; … She is 
rich in many and various types of fruit, and beaches, and harbours, and necessary provisions 
… and many rivers, and especially huge mountains, which are of immeasurable height’.



riccardo bruscagli80 

vii. Marvellous trees

Omnes he insule sunt pulcerrime et variis distincte figuris, pervie et maxima arborum 
varietate sidera lambentium plene, quas nunquam foliis privari credo, quippe vidi 
eas ita virentes atque decoras, ceu mense maio in Hispania solent esse; quarum alie 
florentes, alie fructuose, alie in alio statu, secundum uniuscuiusque qualitatem, 
vigebant. (150)61

XXXII
Alberi ci è d’una ragion fioriti,
del mese di novembre che no’ siàno,
come ’n Ispagnia e ne’ suo’ degni liti
li alberi sono el magio, e ’lmonte e ’lpiano;
sì che no’ altri stiàn tutti stupiti
per l’abondantia che trovata habiàno.
Sonci li alberi verdi e le lor foglie
ch’i’ credo che non perdan mai le spoglie.62

viii. Marvellous palm trees

Sunt preterea in dicta insula / Iohana septem vel octo palmarum genera que 
proceritate et pulchritudine, quemadmodum cetere omnes arbores, herbe fructusque, 
nostras facile exuperant. Sunt et mirabiles pinus, agri et prata vastissima, varie aves, 
varia mella variaque metalla, ferro excepto. (150)63

XXXI
Sonci di sette o ver d’otto ragioni
di palme, che mi fan maravigliare;
e se, alzando gli occhi, cura poni,
pini vi son che l’aria par tochare;
passere, lusignioli e altri doni
che non si potre’ mai tutto narrare;

61 ‘All these islands are beautiful and variously shaped, easy to access and full of great, diverse 
trees, which seem to touch the sky; I think that they never shed their foliage, since I saw them 
green and full, as in the month of May in Spain; and they were vigorous, some in bloom, some 
bearing fruits, some at another stage of development, each according to their nature’.

62 ‘There are trees in bloom – in the current month of November – like the trees are in Spain 
and in its decorous regions during the month of May, on the mountains and plains; so that all of 
us are stupefied because of the abundance that we found here. The trees and their foliage are so 
green, that I think that they never shed their foliage’.

63 ‘Furthermore there are on the above mentioned island Iohana seven or eight types of palm 
trees, which, because of their height and beauty – like all the other trees, herbs and fruits – easily 
surpass ours. There are also marvellous pine trees, vast fields and grass, various birds, various 
types of honey and metals, except iron’.



inventione delle nuove insule 81 

della bambagia un pondo ci è infinito
e d’altre cose assai ci è ’n questo lito.64

ix. The Spagnuola island

In ea autem quam ‘Hispanam’ supra diximus nuncupari, maximi sunt montes ac 
pulcri, vasta rura, nemora, campi feracissimi, seri pascique et condendis edificiis 
aptissimi. Portuum in hac insula commoditas et prestantia, fluminum copia 
salubritate admixta hominum, que, nisi qui viderit, credulitatem superat. Huius 
arbores, pascua et fructus multum ab illis Iohane differunt. Haec pretera Hispana 
diverso aromatis genere, auro metallisque abundat. (150)65

XXXIV
Simil, Signore, i’ vi vogli’ avisare
Che ’n quest’isola ci è molta pianura,
dove ’difizi molti si puon fare,
e chastelle, ciptà chon magne mura,
ché non bisogna poi di dubitare,
né d’aver, chi ci sta, nulla paura;
molte terre ci son da seminare
e da pascer le bestie e nutrichare.

XXXV, 1-6
O’ po’ trovati certi fiumicelli
che tutti menan oro, e non già poco,
e molti porti grandi e da far belli,
ché abondanza ci è d’acqu’e di loco;
l’erbe e.lle selve fatte cho’ penelli 
non son sì belle; …66

64 ‘There are seven or eight types of palm-trees – a thing that makes me marvel – in addition, 
if you look up and consider, [you’ll see that] there are pine trees so tall that they seem to touch 
the clouds; there are sparrows, nightingales, and other graceful things that it is impossible to 
mention; there is an infinite quantity of cotton, and there is abundance of many other things 
in this land’.

65 ‘In the island that we mentioned above named ‘Hispana’, there are very high, beautiful 
mountains, vast farmlands, forests, very fertile fields, totally apt to be sown, put to pasture, 
and built on. The facility and beauty of harbors on this island, the abundance of rivers 
together with healthy population is such that it is unbelievable, if one does not see it. The 
trees, pastures and fruits of this island are very different from those of Iohana island. This 
one, Hispana, furthermore, is abundant with different types of spices, gold and metals’.

66 ‘The same way, my Lord, I want to advise you that on this island there is abundance 
of plain territory, where many buildings could be built, castles, cities with high walls, so that 
the inhabitants could not doubt of any fear; there are many fields to sow, and to graze for the 
animals. Furthermore I found certain streams of water that run gold, and not in a small quantity, 
and many harbours, big and easy to make even more beautiful, since there is abundance of water 
and space; herbs and woods painted with the best brushes are not as charming’.



riccardo bruscagli82 

x. Naked natives

Cuius quidem et omnium aliarum, quas ego vidi et quarum cognitionem habeo, 
incole utriusque sexus nudi semper incedunt, quemadmodum eduntur in lucem, 
preter aliquas feminas que folio frondeve aliqua aut bombicino velo pudenda operiunt, 
quod ipse sibi ad id negocii parant. (150)67

XXI, 6-8
dove trovoron poi molta brigata
senza panni vestire, o arme, o scudi,
ma tutti e’ membri loro erano nudi,

XXII, 1-4
salvo ch’alchuna donna, che coperte
tiene le parte genitale immonde
con bambagia tesuta, e dipo’ certe
l’àven coperte con diverse fronde.68

xi. No arms, but sharpened canes

Carent hi omnes, ut supra dixi, quocunque genere ferri, carent et armis, utpote 
sibi ignotis, nec ad ea sunt apti, non propter corporis deformitatem, cum sint bene 
formati, sed quia sunt timidi ac pleni formidine. Gestant tamen pro armis arundines 
sole perustas, in quarum radicibus hastile quoddam ligneum siccum et in mucronem 
attenuatum figunt, neque his audent augite uti. (150)69

XXXV, 7-8
… gli uomini sono afabile formati,
timidi sempre e al fugir parati. 
… 

XXXVII, 1-3 
Portano alchun’ certe chann’apuntate

67 ‘The inhabitants of this island, and of all the others, that I saw and of which I have 
some knowledge, go around always naked, men and women, the same way they were at 
birth; except for some women, who cover their pudenda with some leaves or branches or 
some cotton wool, that they provide themselves for this purpose’.

68 ‘where they met then many people who had no clothes, or arms, or shields, but their 
bodies were naked, except some women who keep covered their shameful genitalia with 
some cotton wool – and certain others covered them with different types of vegetable’.

69 ‘They lack, as I said before, any type of iron; they lack also weapons, since they do not 
know them, and they are not used to them: not because they are deformed in their bodies – 
actually, they are well built – but because they are shy and full of fear. However, they carry 
in lieu of weapons some burned canes, where they insert, in the root, some sort of dry wood, 
sharpened as a point, in the fashion of a spear: but they do not dare to use these, either’.



inventione delle nuove insule 83 

sotto le braccia, come noi le spade,
archi con frecce di channe tagliate.70

xii. The unequal trade

Ceterum, ubi se cernunt tutos, omni metu repulso, sunt admodum simplices ac 
bone fidei et in omnibus que habent liberalissimi: roganti quod possidet inficiatur 
nemo, quin ipsi nos ad id poscendum invitant. Maximum erga omnes amorem pre se 
ferunt: dant queque magna pro parvis, minima licet re nihilove contenti; ego attamen 
prohibui ne tam minima et nullius precii hisce darentur, ut sunt lancis, parapsidum 
vitrique fragmenta, item clavi, lingule, quanquam, si hoc poterant adipisci, videbatur 
eis pulcerrima mundi possidere iocalia. (152)71

XLIII
Signior mio dolce, la piacevolecza
di questa gente non potre’ narrare;
per una stringa, che poco si preza,
volson tant’oro a un de’ nostri dare
ch’è tre ducati e mezo: o che richeza
are’ potuto in queste parti fare!
Ma io ho comandato alla mia gente
che ciascun doni e non pigli niente.

XLIV
Per far lor grata Vostra Signoria
di molta roba i’ò fatto donare,
di quella di mia gente e della mia,
come scodelle e piatti da mangiare,
e vetri e panni ch’era in mia balia,
senza riserva alchuna per me’ fare;
perch’io gli ò cognosciuti tanti grati,
io gli ò come fedeli e buon’ tractati.
… 

70 ‘Men are pleasantly built, always shy and fast at running away … Some of them carry 
under their arms certain sharpened canes, as we carry our swords, bows and arrows made 
of cut canes’.

71 ‘On the other hand, as soon as they feel secure, all fear abandoned, they are very 
simple people, true, and extremely generous with everything they possess: nobody reacts 
badly if somebody requests his possession, on the contrary, they are the ones who invite us 
to ask. They love all the other people before themselves: they offer great things in exchange 
for small ones, content with the slightest thing, or even nothing. Anyway I prohibited that 
they be given minimal things and of no value, like dishes, fragments of plates or glass, 
nails, spoons – even though, if they could obtain such objects, it seemed to them that they 
possessed the most marvellous trinkets in the world’.



riccardo bruscagli84 

XLVI
Volsan anchor per una botte trista
e per un pezo d’archo che non vale,
tre oncie d’oro darmi e simul mista
tanta bambagia ch’è mezo quintale;
ma po’ ch’i’ ebbi questa cosa vista
parsemi di pigliar niente, male,
et ho commesso a ciasc<h>edun de’ mia
che di pigliar niente ardito sia.72

xiii. No idolatry; Columbus and his crew adored like deities

Nullam hii norunt ydolatriam, immo firmissime credunt omnem vim, omnem 
potentiam, omnia denique bona esse in celo meque inde cum his navibus et nautis 
descendisse, atque hoc animo ubi<que> fui susceptus, postquam metum repulerant. 
(152)73

XXXVI, 7-8
e’ credan che no’ siàn di cielo in terra
mandati per camparli d’ogni guerra.
… 

XLVII
Non è fra loro alchuna briga o setta,
ma, pacifici, tutti insieme stanno;
di parole o di facti mai s’aspecta
di far vendecta alcuna, ingiuria o danno:
beato è quel che servir si dilecta!
Acompagniati a braccio sempre vanno;
i’ gli ò visti sì buoni e recti e grati
che a buon fine Idio gli arà chiamati.

72 ‘My sweet Lord, I could not express how pleasant these people are; for one piece of 
lace, of such small value, they wanted to give to one of ours so much gold, that it would be 
paid three ducats and a half: oh how much wealth I could have accumulated in these lands! 
But I ordered my people to give away everything for nothing. In order to ingratiate them in 
the name of Your Majesty, I commanded to give them a fair amount of stuff, belonging to 
my people and to me personally: dishes, plates, glass, cloths which were in my possession, 
without any hesitation, everything well-meant; since I found them so grateful, I treated 
them as faithful and good people. … Moreover, they insisted on giving me – for a cheap 
barrel and for a piece of bow of no value – three ounces of gold, plus so much cotton that 
it may be half a quintal; but after seeing this business, [where] I thought it would be bad 
not to take anything, I ordered each one of my crew not to dare to take anything anymore’.

73 ‘These people know no idolatry, indeed they firmly believe that any force, any power, 
finally, all good is in heaven, and believe that I descended from on high with my ships and my 
crew; in this persuasion I was welcomed everywhere, once they were free of fear’.



inventione delle nuove insule 85 

XLVIII
Non è fra loro idolatria nisuna,
tutti le mani al ciel tengono alzate,
non adoran pianeti, o sole, o luna,
ma, le lor menti al ciel tut<t>e levate,
dichon la gloria in ciel esser sol una;
da la qual patria credon che mandate
le nostre barche siano, e noi in terra
a far pace col ciel d’ogni lor guerra.74

xiv. Indians kidnapped and domesticated; natives’ adoration of Columbus and 
his crew; the canoes; no difference of language, looks, habits among the inhabitants of 
the islands

Ego statim atque ad mare illud perveni, e prima insula quosdam Indos violenter 
arripui, qui ediscerent a nobis et nos periter docerent ea quorum ipsi in hisce partibus 
cognitionem habebant; et ex voto successit: nam brevi nos ipsos, et hii nos, tum gestu 
ac signis, tum verbis intellexerunt, magnoque nobis fuere emolumento. Veniunt modo 
mecum tamen, qui semper putant me desiluisse e cello, quamvis diu nobiscum versati 
fuerint, hodieque ver / sentur; et hi erant primi, qui id, quocunque appellebamus, 
nunciabant, alii deinceps aliis elata voce dicentes: ‘Venite, venite, et videbitis gentes 
eterea’; quamobrem tam femine quam viri, tam impuberes quam adulti, tam juvenes 
quam senes, deposita formidine paulo ante concepta, nos certatim visebant, magna 
iter stipante caterva, aliis cibum, aliis potum afferenti bus maximo cum amore 
ac benevolentia incredibili. Habet unaquaeque insula multas scaphas solidi ligni, 
etsi angustas, longitudine tamen ac forma nostris biremibus similes, cursu autem 
velociores: reguntur remis tantum modo. Harum quedam sunt magne, quedam 
parve, quedam in medio consistent, plures tamen biremi, que remiget duodeviginti 
transtris maiores, cum quibus in omnes illas insulas, qae innumere sunt, traiicitur, 
cumque his suam mercaturam exercent et inter eos comertia fiunt. Aliquas ego harum 
biremium seu scapharum vidi quae vehebant septuaginta et octuaginta remiges.
…
In omnibus his insulis nulla est diversitas inter gentis effigies, nulla in moribus 
atque loquela, quin omnes se intelligunt adinvicem; que res perutilis est ad id quod 
serenissimum regem nostrum exoptare precipue reor, scilicet eorum ad sanctam Christi 
fidem conversionem, cui quidem, quantum intelligere potui, facillimi sunt et proni.
Dixi quem / admodum sum progressus antea insulam Iohanam per rectum tramitem 

74 ‘Among them there is no quarrel, no party, but they all live together in peace; nobody is 
supposed to seek revenge, or respond with offence or any damage for words or actions: happy 
are those who take pleasure in their service! They go around all the time arm in arm; I saw them 
so good, honest, grateful, that God surely might have prepared some good for them. Among 
them there is no idolatry, all of them keep their hands raised up to heaven; they do not worship 
any planet, or Sun, or Moon, but – always with their minds turned to heaven – they maintain 
that there is just one and only glory, in heaven; they believe that our ships have been sent from 
there above, and that we have been sent on earth to make peace with heaven and finish any war’.



riccardo bruscagli86 

occasus in orientem miliaria CCCX XII, secundum quam viam et intervallum 
itineris possum dicere hanc Iohanam esse maiorem Anglia et Scotia simul: nanque 
ultra dicta CCCXXII passuum milia, in ea parte que ad occidentem prospectat, 
due, quas non petii, supersunt provincie, quarum alteram Indi ‘Anan’ vocant, cuius 
accole caudati nascuntur. (154-156)75

XLIX
Io n’ò con meco sempre alcun menato,
li quali i’ feci per forza pigliare,
quand’al principio in terra fui smontato,
non potend’io in altra forma fare:
pel veloce fugir mai ascholtato
non era le mie voci o ’l mio parlare;
e questi, che per forza allor pigliai,
son per amor venuti sempremai.

L
Sempr’a mangiare, a bere e a dormire
acanto a me i’ gli ò sì ben tractati
che gli aferman per certo e usan dire
che dal regno del ciel no’ siam mandati;
vannoci inanzi gridando: ‘Venire

75 ‘As soon as I arrived at that sea, I abducted a few Indians, so that they could teach us, and 
the same way we could teach them, what they knew about these territories – which happened as 
we desired, because very soon they started to understand us, as well as we started to understand 
them, sometimes with gestures and signs, sometimes with words; and so they turned out to be 
extremely helpful. They accompany me all the time, still believing that I descended from heaven, 
even though by now they have been with us for quite a time, and still are; these were the first ones 
to loudly enunciate whatever we named, while others would proclaim: ‘Come, come, and you 
shall see folks from heaven!’; so that all the people, women and men, children and adults, young 
and old, not fearful anymore, would mingle with us; the crowds would block our path, while 
some of them offered food, some drinks, with incredible love and affection. All these islands have 
boats made of solid wood: they are narrow though, similar in length and shape to our two-oared 
boats, but speedier; and they are driven just by oars. Some of them are big, some are small, some 
are of medium size, most of them with two oars, that navigate – the biggest ones – with eighteen 
benches of oarsmen. With such boats they go from one island to another – they are innumerable 
–, and carry on their trade, and sustain commerce among them. I saw some of those boats which 
could transport seventy and also eighty oarsmen’.
… 
‘In all these islands there is no difference in the features of the people, nor in their costumes or 
language, so that all of them can understand each other; which is extremely useful to what I be-
lieve is the greatest desire of our most blessed king, that is, the conversion of these populations to 
the holy faith of Christ: and as far as I could understand, they are totally open and ready for it’.
‘I said how I went beyond the above mentioned Iohana island, straight towards East from West, 
for three hundred and twenty-two miles; calculating that route and the way in between I can say 
that this Iohana is larger than England and Scotland put together: in fact, beside that distance of 
three hundred and twenty-two miles, along the side exposed to the West, two more regions extend 
– which I did not visit – of which one is called ‘Anan’, where the inhabitants are born with a tail’. 



inventione delle nuove insule 87 

debba ciaschuno a vedere e’ beati!’;
Sì ch’al presente ogniun corr’a vedere,
e portan tutti da mangiare e bere.

LI
Dall’un’isola a l’altra questi vanno
con certe barche che in quest’isol’è,
le qual’ d’un legnio solo fatte stanno,
e son chiamate queste chanoè;
son lunghe e strecte, e par quasi volanno
andare a chiunche messo drento ci è,
ben che sian grossamente lavorate
(con sassi e legni e ossi son cavate).

LII
E òne vista alchuna tanto grande
che ottanta persone ci sta drento,
e ciascun à ’l suo remo e le vivande;
navichan questi e con buon sentimento
la roba l’uno a l’altro li si spande
(quel ch’i’ vi scrivo, Signior, nulla mento);
e vanno baratando tutti quanti
come se fussin quasi mercatanti.

LIII
In quest’isole tutte nominate
non ho veduta nulla differenza
d’incharnati, di visi, o di brigate;
ma tutti quasi son d’una presenza
e d’un costume tutte costumate;
homini e donne son pien’ di clemenza;
tutt’ànno una loquela e un parlare,
che vi farien, Signor, maravigliare.

LIV
Che par che util cosa questa sia
a convertigli a nostra santa fede;
ché, come scrivo a Vostra Signoria,
ciascun disposto ci è, e già la crede,
di que’ chàn vista la presentia mia.
Non gli ò tutti veduti, ma si vede
che gli è maior Giovanna, senza sotia,
che non è l’Inghilterra con la Scotia.

LV, 1-6
Son due provincie ch’i’ non ho cerchate,
secondo che quest’altri detto m’ànno:



riccardo bruscagli88 

una ce n’è, la qual queste brigate
dichan che quelle gente che vi stanno
son con le chode tutte quante nate,
et Anahan el nome posto l’ànno.76

xv. Building a fortress

… ibique arcem quandam erigere extemplo iussi, que modo iam debet esse peracta; 
in qua homines qui necessarii sunt visi, cum omni armorum genere, et ultra annum 
victu opportuno reliqui … (156)77

XL, 7-8
e di legniame una bastia fo fare
e.lla giente vi metto per ghuardare.

XLI, 1-2
E forniti gli lasso per un anno
d’arme, di victoaglia …78

76 ‘I have been bringing with me all the time some of them, whom I had taken by force, 
when I first disembarked, since I could not do otherwise: my voice or my talk was never 
listened to, because they would always flee from me; and now those, whom I took by force, 
have been accompanying me for love. I have treated them so well – always eating, drinking, 
sleeping with me – that they state and say that we are sent from above; they precede us 
yelling: ‘Come, everybody must come to see the blessed ones!’ So that now all people hurry 
to see, and everybody offer food and drink. These people go from one island to the other 
with some local boats, made in one whole piece of wood, and they are called canoes; they 
are long and narrow, and their passengers feel as though they are flying when they are 
transported by them – even though they are roughly made (they are hollowed out with 
stones, pieces of wood and bones). And I saw some of them so big that they could carry eighty 
people, and each one has his oar and his provisions; so they navigate and exchange goods 
in good faith (what I’m writing about, my Lord, is the truth); and everybody goes around 
trading merchandise, as if they were regular merchants. In all the islands I mentioned I saw 
no difference in skin color, features, communal behavior; everybody seem the same, and 
follows the same norms; men and women are very compassionate; all of them share the same 
language, the same tongue, so that you would marvel at that, Sir. This circumstance seems 
useful in order to convert them to our holy faith; because, as I am writing to Your Majesty, 
everybody is well inclined, everybody already is a believer, of those who have been in my 
presence. I did not see all of them, but it is evident that the Giovanna island, alone, is bigger 
than England and Scotland put together. There are two regions that I have not visited, 
according to what I have been told: there is one, of which these folks living with me say that 
its inhabitants are born with a tail, all of them; they call it Anahan’.

77 ‘There I ordered the building of a fortress immediately, which by now must be already 
standing; where I left the men who seemed necessary, with all sorts of weapons, and food 
provisions for one year and more’. 

78 ‘I order a fortress in wood to be built, and I put in it the people necessary to guard it 
… and I leave them well provided for one year with weapons, and food’.



inventione delle nuove insule 89 

xvi. Marriage; women’s labor; the laws of property

In omnibus his insulis, ut intellexi, quisque uni tantum coniugi acquiescit, preter 
principes aut reges, quibus viginti habere licet. Femine magis quam viri laborare 
videntur; nec bene potui intelligere an habeant bona propria: vidi enim quod unus 
habebat aliis impartiri, presertim dapes, obsonia et huiusmodi. (158)79

LVII
In quest’isole tutti questi stanno
contenti d’una donna ciascheduno,
ma questi principali tutti n’ànno
venti, le qual’ son date lor per uno;
e l’uno a l’altro mai torto non fanno,
ché a ciò fare non ci è pronto nisuno;
e nelle cose tutte da mangiare
nulla division ci vegho fare.80

xvii. The Caribs; Mateunin’s women; other, hairless, populations

Itaque monstra aliqua non vidi, neque eorum alicubi habui co / gnitionem, 
excepta quadam insula ‘Charis’ nuncupata, que secunda ex Hispan<i>a in Indiam 
transfretantibus existit, quam gens quedam, a finitibus habita ferocior, incolit: hi carne 
humana vescuntur. Habent predicti biremium genera plurima, quibus in omnes indicas 
insulas traiiciunt, depredant surripiuntque quecunque possunt. Nihil ab aliis differunt, 
nisi quod gerunt more femineo longos crines, utuntur arcubus et spiculis arundineis, 
fixis, ut diximus, in grossiori parte attenuatis hastilibus, ideoque habentur feroces; qua 
re ceteri Indi inexhausto metu plectuntur, sed hos ego nihil facio plusquam alios. Hi 
sunt qui coheunt cum quibusdam feminis, que sole insulam ‘Mateunin’, primam ex 
Hispan<i>a in Indiam traiicientibus, habitant. He autem feminae nullum sui sexus 
opus exercent: utuntur enim arcubus et spiculis, sicuti de earum coniugibus dixi, 
muniunt sese laminis eneis, quarum maxima apud eas copia existit.
… 
Aliam mihi insulam affirmant supradicta Hispana majorem: eius incole carent 
pilis, auroque inter alias potissimum exuberat. Huius insulae et aliarum, quas vidi, 
homines mecum porto, qui horum que dixi testimonium perhibent. (158-160)81

79 ‘On all these islands, as I understood, everybody is content with one partner, except princes 
or kings, who are allowed to have twenty of them. The women seem to do harder work than men; 
I have not been able to discover if they own private possessions: indeed, I have seen that what one 
possesses, is shared with others, especially food, bread and dripping, and such like’.

80 ‘On all these islands all the men are content with one woman each, except that their rulers 
have twenty, all of them, who are given to them: they never do wrong to each other, since nobody is 
inclined to do so; and as far as food is concerned, I see that everything is shared, with no distinction’.

81 ‘I did not see any monster, nor had I any knowledge of them anywhere – except a certain 
island called ‘Charis’, the second that the passengers from Hispania to India encounter, which is 
inhabited by a population that its neighbours consider quite ferocious: they feed on human flesh. 



riccardo bruscagli90 

LVIII, 5-8
In queste parti nulla cosa ria
si truova di che questi habin paura,
salvo che ci è un’isola all’entrare
de l’India, per voler qui arrivare,

LIX
in nella quale sta gente villana;
da questi non mi par che siano amati:
perché dice che mangian carne umana,
però non son da questi qui prezati.
Ann’assa’ legni questa gente strana
da navichare, e hanno già rubati
a questi, discorrendo d’ogni banna
con archi i.mano e con freze di canna.

LX
Nonn-è da questi a quelli differentia
se non i.ne’ capegli che quelli hanno
lunghi come le donne, e di presenza
son come questi, e fanno molto danno
a questi, che son proprio essa clemenza,
sì che in gelosia sempre ne stanno;
ma ispero ben che Vostra Signoria
saprà purghare una tal malatia.

LXI
Un’isola ci è detta Mattanino,
i.nella qual le donne sole stanno,
e questo iniquo popul gli è vicino
e a usar chon queste spesso vanno;
ma questo popul tutto feminino
esercitio di donne mai non fanno,
ma con gli archi traendo tuttavia,
che par per certo una gran fantasia.

This population have various types of boat, by which they travel across all the Indian islands, they 
pillage and ransack whatever they can. They do not differ from the others, except that they let 
their hair grow long, like women; they use bows and sharp spikes, inserted, as I have said, in the 
thickest part of thinned spears, so they are considered ferocious; that is why the rest of the Indians 
are disturbed by continuous fear of them – but I do not esteem them more than the others. 
Those are the ones who mate with certain women, who live by themselves the island ‘Mateunin’, 
the first one encountered by those who go from Hispania to India. These women do not do 
anything expected of their sex: they use bows and spikes, like I said of their partners, and provide 
themselves with leaf blades of bronze, of which there is abundance in their land. They tell me that 
there is another island even bigger than the above-mentioned Hispana: its inhabitants are hairless, 
and their land is rich in gold above all others. I am bringing with me men from this island, and 
from the others that I saw, who can bear witness to what I have said’.



inventione delle nuove insule 91 

LXII
E vanno queste ben tutte choperte
non già di panni lini o lani o veli,
ma d’erbe e giunchi, e queste cose certe
son, ché di qua non è lenzuoli o teli;
’n un’altr’isola poi le genti oferte,
femin’e maschi, naschon senza peli;
inanzi voglio confuso esser nel dire
ch’i’ voglia alchuna cosa preterire.

LXIII
E dove questi sanza peli sono
più oro ci è ch’i’ abbia anchor trovato;
di quel che scrivo o parlando ragiono, 
Signore, i’ ne son ben giustificato:
a Vostra Signoria u.magnio dono
i’ ò per portar mecho preparato;
di tutti questi luoghi i’ vo’ menare
gente che possin ciò testificare.82

Even a superficial review of the above correlations shows quite clearly that 
Dati didn’t follow the order of the subjects as they appear in his source. 
Indeed, if we give a number to the passages from Dati’s cantare in relation 
to the narrative position of the same material in the corresponding textual 
portions in Cosco’s letter, we obtain the following sequence: 5, 4, 6, 3, 1, 
7, 9, 8, 10, 2, 11, 13, 14, 15, 12, 16, 17.83 We see that only in two instances 

82 ‘In these lands nothing nasty can be found that scares these peoples, except that there is 
one island, the first we encounter on the way to India, in order to arrive here, where a primitive 
population lives; they do not seem to be much loved by the population around me: they are said 
to feed on human flesh, that is why they are not so greatly appreciated by these ones. This weird 
people have many boats to navigate, and they have robbed my people in the past, coming from 
anywhere with bows and arrows made of canes. There is no difference between the ones and the 
others besides their hair, that they grow long like women; physically they are the same as these 
ones, and damage them gravely – and these are goodness itself, so that they live in terror of the 
others all the time; but I hope that Your Majesty will be able to heal this disease. There is another 
island called Mattanino, where only women live, and this unjust people, their neighbours, often 
go there to mate with them; but this population, all made up of women, never do anything 
feminine, but live always using their bows – a truly peculiar thing. These women go around all 
covered not with linen or veils, but with grass and reeds, which is sure, because here linen or 
fabrics do not exist; in another island the population, male and female, is born hairless; I prefer 
to be confused in my explanation, than leave out something. And where these hairless people 
live, there is more gold than I have found so far; Sir, I have just reason to say or write what I am 
saying or writing: I prepared a great gift to be given to Your Majesty: from all these lands I want 
to bring with me people who can testify to everything I said’.

83 According to the following equivalence: i = XXIV > 5; ii = XXIII > 4; iii = XXV-
XXVI > 6; iv = XXII > 3; v = XX > 1; vi = XXIX-XXX > 7; vii = XXXII > 9; viii = XXXI 



riccardo bruscagli92 

(13-15, 16-17) did successive textual fragments in Dati’s cantare follow the 
sequencing of the original Latin source. In all the other cases, Dati completely 
subverted the order of the original. Moreover, within this mode of procedure, 
he sometimes chose to follow extensive portions of his source quite faithfully, 
even as he at other times rearranged the given order for no apparent reason. 
This is evident if we notice how closely he kept the order of the arguments 
towards the ends of his work, whereas elsewhere he was moved, to give only 
one example, to invert the order of segments 7-8 (octaves XXXII-XXI), in 
which he praises the variety, beauty and height of the local palm trees before 
introducing the general magnificence of the islands’ flora. Is there a reason 
for this kind of practice? Can some sort of poetics, or at least some consistent 
compositional principle, be detected in such a radical, apparently unjustified 
manipulation of the pre-text of Dati’s cantare?

7. Incongruence, Discrepancy, Ambiguity

Case by case, an explanation for Dati’s rearrangements can be posited, but I’m 
afraid the explanations taken as a whole don’t add up to a coherent vision of 
operational behaviour. The initial liberties can be attributed to the impatience 
of the canterino, who has dragged his audience through nineteen octaves of 
introduction and now feels an urgent need to grab its attention with some 
exciting news. That is probably why the explorers of Giuliano Dati jump 
ashore right away, instead of cautiously exploring the coasts of the newfound 
‘terra’ by ship, as they do in Cosco’s text. This is also probably why Dati’s text 
immediately calls up, for his listeners, the image of ‘montagnie … d’altura 
smisurata’, ‘molti fiumi’, ‘molta brighata’,84 and why it concentrates right away 
on the nudity of the natives (a shocking detail, which was to resonate for a 
long time in the reports from the New World). Other alterations reveal what 
seems to have been a rather cursory reading of the original. Dati’s anxiety 
to entertain his audience generated ambiguities that a close reading can 
easily detect, but that might well go unnoticed by listeners overwhelmed by 
the many marvels showered upon them in a live performance. This is what 
happens, for example, in the case of the subsequent descriptions of two islands 
called Giovanna and Spagnuola. In octave XXVII, Dati specifies the distance 
between them: ‘dalla Giovanna alla Spagnola el mare / cinquantaquatro 
miglia largo apare’ (7-8).85 Yet, in the following octave, we are told of what 

> 8; ix = XXXIV-V > 10; x = XXI-II > 2; xi = XXXV-VII > 11; xii = XLIII-IV, XLVI > 13; 
xiii = XXXVI, XLVII-III > 14; xiv = XLIX-LV > 15; xv = XL-XLI > 12; xvi = LVII > 16; 
xvii = LVIII-LXIII > 17.

84 ‘mountains … of excessive height’, ‘many rivers’, ‘a lot of people’.
85 ‘from the Giovanna Island to the Spagnola island the sea appears to be fifty-four 

miles wide’.



inventione delle nuove insule 93 

seems to be Columbus’ navigation towards the island of Spagnuola, and we 
are made to think that the mileage given in the previous distich refers to 
the dimensions of Spagnuola itself: ‘son cinquecensesantaquatro miglia / la 
larg<h>eza che questa isola piglia’ (XXVIII, 7-8).86 In another inconsistency, 
up to the point when, in the octave XXIX, the extreme fertility of ‘questa 
sopra l’altre isole’87 is celebrated, the listener has every right to suppose that 
Dati is talking about the virtues of Spagnuola. However, this turns out to be 
wrong: a comparison with the Latin source makes it clear that we are dealing 
instead with the superlative qualities of the Giovanna island: ‘que dicta Iohana 
et alie ibidem insule quam fertilissime existunt. Hec multis … portibus est 
circumdata … ’ (148).88 Even more disconcerting, a few octaves later, this 
remarkable island starts changing its landscape under our very eyes. Besides 
being provided with ‘massime montagne, / che son d’alteza molto ismisurate’ 
(XXX, 1-2), it is now suddenly blessed with vast plains: ‘Simil, Signore, i’ vi 
vogli’ avisare / che ’n quest’isola ci è molta pianura … ’ (XXXIV 1-2).89 Of 
course, islands can quite naturally be both flat and mountainous in various 
parts of their territory; but the reality is that Dati has here begun to describe 
not the Giovanna island, but, without any warning, the Spagnuola (Compare 
this to the precision of Cosco’s letter: ‘In ea autem quam ‘Hispanam’ supra 
diximus nuncupari, maximi sunt montes ac pulchri, vasta rura, nemora, campi 
feracissimi …’ (150).90 Also, Dati’s subsequent observation that it would be 
easy to build cities and castles and establish a regular agriculture in such a 
favourable landscape is likewise made with regard to the island of Spagnuola 
rather than to Giovanna: ‘ … ’n quest’isola … / … ’difizi molti si puon fare, 
/ e chastelle, ciptà chon magne mura, / che non bisogna poi di dubitare, / né 
d’aver, chi ci sta, nulla paura; / molte terre ci son da seminare / e da pascer 
le bestie e nutrichare’ (XXXIV, 2-8).91

In conclusion, the dismembering and reassembling of the original 
text doesn’t seem to follow an alternative compositional plan. Instead, the 
impression one gets is that Giuliano Dati scribbled down the most interesting 
bits of information he could glean from his source and then assembled them 
in his cantare without any scruples about fidelity to the structural order of 

86 ‘this island is five hundred and sixty-four miles wide’.
87 ‘this (island) over all other (islands)’.
88 ‘The above mentioned Iohana and the other islands around are excessively fertile. It is 

surrounded by many … harbours’.
89 ‘huge mountains, which are of immeasurable height … The same way, my Lord, I 

want to advise you that in this island there is abundance of plain territory’.
90 ‘On the above mentioned ‘Hispana’ island there are very high beautiful mountains, 

vast farmlands, forests, very fertile fields’.
91 ‘on this island … many buildings could be built, castles, cities with high walls, so that the 

inhabitants should not suffer any fear; there are many fields to sow, and for animals to graze’.



riccardo bruscagli94 

the text he was transforming. The new disorder, shall we say, of the text 
was apparently of no importance to Giuliano Dati. He knew that what was 
important was to communicate in the most interesting, vibrant, exciting 
manner a bundle of information, information that his listeners would have 
neither the time nor the attention to scrutinize for inconsistencies. Of 
course, what I am saying should not be misinterpreted as a self-righteous 
condemnation of Dati’s compositional methods, but rather as an attempt to 
understand how the mind of a popular narrator of the late sixteenth century 
might have functioned when confronted with what was highly challenging 
and indeed previously inconceivable information. After all, the author himself, 
in a sudden access of naïveté and sincerity affirms towards the end of his 
endeavor: ‘inanzi voglio confuso esser nel dire / ch’i’ voglia alchuna cosa 
preterire’ (LXII, 7-8).92 Perhaps we can be so bold as to read these lines as 
Dati’s declaration of poetics. We might call ‘confusion’ the creative hallmark 
of the canterino style.93

8. The Indian Tryptic

Finally, the Storia della inventione delle nuove insule must also be considered 
in the context of Giuliano Dati’s body of work, within which it constitutes 
a sort of line of demarcation. Before the Storia della inventione, Dati had 
written hagiographic or devotional cantari (Historia e leggenda di San 
Biagio 1492-1493; Historia di Sancta Maria de Loreto 1492-1493; Stazioni e 
indulgenze di Roma 1492-1493); after it, he expanded his repertoire to treat 
of more contemporary subjects (La Magna Lega and Il Diluvio di Roma, 
both printed in 1495-1496). He did so, however, without abandoning the 
religious subject matter of his earlier compositions (Leggenda di S. Barbara 
1494, Storia di S. Job profeta, 1495; a life of Giovanna da Signa, written in 
1522, was never published). What is telling, though, is that after the Storia 
della inventione delle nuove insule he wrote, one after the other, two other 

92 ‘I’d rather be confused in my words, but without leaving out anything that I have to say’.
93 Perhaps not only of this style. As scholars have noted, Matteo Fortini, too, in his 

paraphrase of Vespucci’s text, doesn’t follow the narrative ordering of his source: ‘Regarding 
the literary devices used by the paraphrasing author, they consist first of all of a very shrewd 
combinatory technique which prefers, instead of following the sequential order of his 
source, to contaminate the single sequences, alternating unities even very remote from one 
another in the text (especially if such contamination is prompted by internal links with 
Vespucci’s text) … The source is treated like a narrative repertoire open for free exploitation, 
thus creating a true stylistic competition between the texts’ (Formisano 1986, 336, 339). 
The textual procedures of Dati and Fortini are in this sense similar, even though it would be 
hard to attribute to Giuliano Dati any special ‘very shrewd combinatory technique’, or any 
intention of ‘stylistic competition’. In Dati’s case, the structural ‘disorder’ of the text seems 
instead more connected to the improvisation intrinsic to the genre of the cantari.



inventione delle nuove insule 95 

cantari, poems dealing with the subject of ‘prete Janni’. This was the fabled 
monarch of the East Indies, who had already been reassigned in the popular 
literature to a new throne in Ethiopia, albeit not in the fantasy of Giuliano 
Dati, who entitled his two new cantari La gran magnificenza del Prete Janni o 
Primo Cantare dell’India (1493-1494) and Secondo Cantare dell’India (1494-
1495).94 In other words, after having celebrated the discovery of the ‘new’ 
Indies, Dati was inspired to go back to the lore of the ‘old’ Indies. In so 
doing, he ended up composing what was almost an Indian tryptic, working 
his way through the assortment of western marvels revealed by Columbus 
and on to the fantastic treasures of the East.95 And, speaking of marvels, Dati 
has an odd approach to such things. One might expect him to take literary 
advantage of the highly ‘alien’ traits offered by the New World. Instead, 
he shares the attitude of Columbus himself who, in his reports, pursued 
a strategy of reassurance, emphasizing the similarity of the natives to the 
people of his own world rather than their differences (hence his insistence 
on their eagerness for the conversion to the ‘true Faith’). Dati takes a similar 
approach. For example, he reports the existence of humans born with tails 
with no evident emotion, and he highlights the fact that in the new islands 
‘… nulla cosa ria / si truova di che questi habin paura’ (LVIII 5-6).96 This 
is an even blander translation than that of his Latin source, which reads: 
‘Itaque monstra aliqua non vidi’.97 Even the omission of a crucial reference 
to the kingdom of Catai in the Columbus-Cosco report could be considered 
as part of this strategy of reassurance. Columbus, faithful to his strongest 
convictions, mentioned his initial impression that the ‘Iohana insula’ might 
actually be a continent: ‘tamque eam magnam nullo reperto fine inveni, et 
non insulam sed continentem Chatai provinciam esse crediderim’.98 Perhaps 
it is not an accident that Dati omitted this observation from his cantare. His 

94 ‘The only feature that demonstrates a relative independence of the author from his 
sources consists in the fact that he shifts the kingdom of the legendary Priest to India 
Major, whereas the Meschino puts it in Ethiopia’ (Olschki 1938, 300). The Meschino is the 
extremely popular poem Guerin Meschino (or Meschino di Durazzo), the main source of 
the ‘Indian’ cantari written by Giuliano Dati. The complete title of the first cantare reads: 
‘La gran Magnificentia de Prete Ianni Signore dellindia / Maggiore & della Ethiopia’; the 
second one has no title, but the colophon reads: ‘Finito el secondo / cantare dellindia’. They 
are both in quarto, with no date or place of publication; the proposed dates are conjectural.

95 As noted by Olschki: ‘Therefore these two “Indian cantari” … are the most interesting 
among those composed by Dati: they prove how the old legends grafted upon the reports of 
the most recent geographical discoveries, integrating them in the imagination of the general 
public’ (1938, 295).

96 ‘nothing nasty can be found that scares those people’. 
97 ‘I did not see any monster’.
98 ‘I found this island so big, with no visible border, that I was prone to believe it was not 

an island, but a region pertaining to the continent of Chatai’.



riccardo bruscagli96 

islands are new, certainly, but from the title of his cantare on through the 
body of his poem, they are presented as additions to the well-known isles of 
Channarie. That is, they are imagined as the extension of an already assimilated 
geography and not as a dramatic discovery resulting from what was thought 
to be the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Yet, even as he seeks to reassure his audience, Dati insists that in the new 
islands there are rivers flowing with gold: ‘l’or e l’argento e ’l metallo ci avanza, 
/ massim’un fiume ch’è per questa via, / che non può questa terra farne sanza, 
/ dov’ò trovato con mie fantasia / che di molt’oro è piena quella rena / sì come 
l’acqua di quel fiume mena’ (XXXIII 3-8);99 ‘O’ po’ trovato certi fiumicelli / 
che tutti menan oro, e non già poco’ (XXXV 1-2).100 This is an invention which 
is nowhere to be found in his Latin source. Once again, the textual practice of 
Dati is inconsistent. On the one hand, his narrative downplays some obvious 
opportunities for fantastic expatiations; on the other, he resorts to the trite 
repertoire of the ‘mirabilia’ tradition. However, this apparent contradiction 
operates to a single end: the domestication of the marvellous, a normalization 
of the new. Dati assimilates the newly discovered Indies with the old ones. He 
includes ‘wonders’ so familiar to his audience that they surely inspired a sense 
of continuity and normalcy rather than provoke consternation or unease. In 
his role as a canterino aligned with the expectations of the ‘common man,’ he 
understands that his audience is to be amazed, but not beyond certain limits. 
His common man (or woman) must marvel at the wonders on offer, but he/
she must do so without being unduly disturbed by the narrative extravagances 
he/she is listening to. Which means that, in the end, the traditional format of 
the cantare prevailed over the novelty of the Discovery. Never before had such a 
potentially troubling piece of news been conveyed in so conventional a manner. 
In the treatment of Giulano Dati, the shocking is thoroughly domesticated, 
very often at the expense of accurate translation or faithful reportage. In 1493, 
the news of a New World was without doubt amazing, but les mots pour le dire 
had not been found yet.

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nearby, essential for the well-being of this land, where I found by myself that its sand is full 
of gold, down along its flow’.

100 ‘Furthermore I found certain streams of water that run gold, and not in a small 
quantity’.



inventione delle nuove insule 97 

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