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Italian scholarship onColonial Latin AmericaStelio Cro aa McMaster UniversityPublished online: 03 Jun 2008.

To cite this article: Stelio Cro (1994) Italian scholarship on ColonialLatin America, Colonial Latin American Review, 3:1-2, 253-261, DOI:10.1080/10609169408569832

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Italian Scholarship on Colonial Latin America

Stelio CroMcMaster University

Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; nelle quali s'ha particolare, etvera relatione della vita, et de' fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. ChristoforoColombo, suo padre . . . 1571. Edited and introduction by GIUSEPPEBELLINI. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche,1992. Pp. xxv, 248.

Viaggio e relazione delle Indie (1539-1553). By GALEOTTO CEI. Editedand introduction by FRANCESCO SURDICH. Roma: Bulzoni Editore,1992. Pp. viii, 172, facs.

I segni del diavolo e i segni di Dio. "La carta al Emperador Carlos V"(2 gennaio 1555) di Fray Toribio Motolinía. Edited and introduction byPIERLUIGI CROVETTO. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, Consiglio Nazionaledelle Ricerche, 1992. Pp. xi, 317.

L'America nei libretti italiani del Settecento. By DONATELLA FERRO.Roma: Bulzoni Editore, 1992. Pp. 89.

Iconografia Colombiana. Introduction, notes and studies by GAETANOFERRO, LUISA FALDINI and MARICA MILANESI. In collaborationwith CARLA PAMPALONI, LAURA MONFERDINI and MARIATERESA DI PALMA. Nuova Raccolta Colombiana. Edited andcoordinated by GIANNI EUGENIO VIOLA. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico,1991. Pp. 655.

Iconografia Colombiana, belonging to the collection Nuova RaccoltaColombiana, is divided into four parts, with two appendixes, one for theillustrations to each of the four parts, and a second section of indexes.

In the first part, "Alia ricerca di un'immagine" [Searching foran image], Gaetano Ferro studies the problems resulting from thecontradictory opinions on the representations of Columbus, a questionwhich is for the moment "irrisolta ed irrisolvibile, aperta a tutte leinterpretazioni e discussioni, giacché di nessun ritratto eseguito quando

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254 Colonial Latín American Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 1-2, 1994

egli era vivo ci sono giunti, non dirö l'originale né eventuali copie, maneppure indicazioni sicure, ammesso che tale ritratto sia mai esistito"[unresolved and insoluble, open to all interpretations and discussions,since no painting executed when he was alive has reached us, I won'tsay the original or possible copies, but not even sure indications,provided that such a painting has ever existed] (7-8). How to approachthis subject then? Ferro utilizes the only sound method: a precise,punctilious analysis, aided by a visual reproduction in the relativesection of the "Illustrations," of thirty-four pieces of this centuries oldpuzzle, including well known oil paintings, such as the one attributedto Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, to the various engravings of de Bry, or thepainting attributed to Tobia Stimmer and included in Paolo Giovio'sElogia virorwn bellico virtute . . ., the eight of a series of paintingsinspired by an anonymous portrait in oil, of the first half of the XVIcentury, now housed in the Museo Cívico e Storico "Giuseppe Garibaldi"in Como.

In Part II, "Altri paesaggi, altre piante, altri animali" [OtherLandscapes, Other Plants, Other Animals], Ferro discusses the novelty ofthe observations of Columbus contained in his Log of the First Voyage.That work, which survived in the transcript of Las Casas, begins a newgenre, that of the literature of the voyagers. Apart from the noveltyconnected with the first voyage, Ferro argues that before Columbus'Log Europe was not very familiar with the tropical and equatorial worldwhich was "mal conosciuto nelle sue caratteristiche naturalistiche" [badlyknown in its naturalistic traits] (29). Columbus' Log had the effect ofmaking Europe aware of a new, virtually unknown world of animalsand plants which would fire the European imagination and contributesubstantially to the "Querelle" which exploded in the eighteenth century.Physicians, herborists, and pharmacists would increasingly dedicate theirefforts to classify and identify the usefulness of the "new things." Foreach new plant or animal from America Ferro exhibits the correspondingillustration. This method of observing the chronology of the differentEuropean interpretations of the American flora and fauna, provides anadmirable history of this topic in the European consciousness, fromColumbus' Log to Ramussio's Navigazioni e Viaggi and de Bry'sAmerica Pars Prima-Decimotertia.

In "Genti e Culture del Nuovo Mondo" [Peoples and Cultures of theNew World], the third Part, Luisa Faldini argues that the tradition ofassociating the exotic with both America and Asia in the Europeanmind starts after that initial contact between the Europeans and America.Being convinced of having reached Asia, Columbus identified the newlands with the Asian islands, conditioning the European perception of

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Review Essays and Reviews of Books 255

exotic people. Faldini reminds us that the initial edenic impression byColumbus was reinforced by the subsequent explorations of Vespucciand Alvar Cabrai, as we can see in Vespucci's Letter a a Soderini and inthe name brasil, indicating the kind of tree the Portuguese had found inAmerica which they thought similar to the ones they had found in Asia.The other point discussed by Faldini is the effort of the major colonialpowers to control the divulgation of all essential news and to impressan official view upon the descriptions of the new lands. According toFaldini, the consequence was the creation of an official image by anelite of scholars which connected America and Asia. For this reasonthe native Americans that Columbus brought back to Europe with himaroused little curiosity, since they were seen as "Asians," people of acontinent which was already known. The same was true of the spiceswhich received little interest from the Spaniards who first tested them.In Faldini's opinion, Vespucci's writings, more than Columbus', werea means of divulgating the themes of life according to nature, of therediscovery of Eden and for the obscene, gory details of his descriptionswhich enticed the popular imagination. Faldini also indicates that theSpanish authorities intentionally suppressed the exhibition of Indianartifacts, as if they feared that these would confirm Spain's difficultieswith the evangelization process. When, in the first twenty years ofthe sixteenth century, the separation between Asia and America wasdefined, the problem of interpreting the new world acquired a theologicaldimension which was resolved by Pope Paul III, in June 9,1537, with thedecree of the papal bull Sublimis Deus. In it the Pope sanctioned the realhumanity of the native Americans. Nevertheless, Faldini underlines thefact that the ideological current hostile to the native American persisted,as represented by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo's Historia general ynatural de las Indias, reprinted several times after 1537. Paradoxically,modern researchers, having proved that the native Americans camefrom Asia through the Bering strait, gave reason to Columbus: "gliindigeni ehe incontrö durante il suo primo viaggio oltre Atlántico eranoin definitiva solo un tipo ancora sconosciuto di asiatici" [In the end, thenatives whom he encountered in his first voyage across the Atlantic wereonly an unknown type of Asians] (63).

In the fourth and last essay, "La cartografía del Cinquecento e lanascita della tradizione colombiana" [Fifteenth-Century Cartography andthe Birth of the Columbian Tradition], Marica Milanesi calls our attentionto the fact that the oldest map of the discovery dates to 1500, eight yearsafter Columbus' ships landed in the New World for the first time. It isthe famous map of Juan de la Cosa, the pilot of Columbus in his firstvoyage, but the name of Columbus is absent. However Milanesi also

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256 Colonial Latin American Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 1-2, 1994

underlines the inclusion of St. Christopher in the map and reminds usof Columbus' Greek-Latin monogram, Xroferens (the one who bringsChrist), concluding that Juan de la Cosa symbolized Columbus' plan: tobring Christianity to the East, sailing toward the West. This map confirmsthe idea that the lands reached by Columbus are the rich Orient of MarcoPolo, with the city of Quinsay in Mangi and the island of Cipangu. Butthis map was not made to be used for sailing: "Essa costituisce piuttostoun riepilogo délie conoscenze disponibili sull'insieme délie terre e deimari del mondo" [It signifies a résumé of the available knowledge of theensemble of lands and oceans of the world] (73). According to Milanesithe fact that the Spanish and Portuguese sailing charts do not bear thename of Columbus does not mean a diminution of Columbus' claim toglory. His fame and glory is assured by the frequent testimonies ofall the early chroniclers, from Peter Martyr to Las Casas, to Oviedoand Gomara. Martin Waldseemuller's Cosmographia (1507) consecratesColumbus' rival: Americo Vespucci. This map was the most successful,with over forty-six editions. However, thanks to the work of the Italiancartographer Giacomo Castaldi, and the publishing efforts of both Italianand Dutch editors, the role of Columbus in sixteenth-century cartographywas a decisive one. This was a decisive effort and contributed to establishColumbus' fame. In fact Milanesi argues that the fashion followedby many cartographers to decorate their maps with exotic natives andanimals dates back to Columbus' first mention of cannibals and exoticplants.

Iconografía Colombiana is a massive effort of scholarship andinterpretation. The section of illustrations is one of the most completeever published in a single volume. After reading it, one has thefeeling that Columbus' fascinating adventure is still alive and capableof providing endless substance for a host of new scholars, who wouldwish to understand the magnitude and complexity of the issues still underdebate.

Giuseppe Bellini has reprinted the Venetian first edition of the Historieby Fernando Colón (1571), the younger son of Columbus, a book editedseveral times in the Spanish translation, but not as often in the Italianoriginal, which is supposed to have been a translation made by Alfonsode Ulloa from a Spanish manuscript which was lost. Bellini is wellacquainted with the recent edition of Fernando's Historie by Tavianiand Caraci (Rome, 1990) and with the rich bibliography on the authorand his controversial work: "Le Historie pongono tutta una serie diproblemi, sui quali ancora gli studiosi non hanno cessato di intervenire"[The Historie raises all sort of issues on which scholars are still working](13). Nevertheless Bellini gives us a clear summary of the different

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Review Essays and Reviews of Books 257

opinions on the authorship, from Harrisse's rejection of Fernando'sauthorship to Cesare De Lollis' defense of Columbus' son as the author,an opinion shared by Henry Vignaud and R. Caddeo. Bellini takesexception with Alexander Cioranescu's hypothesis that Las Casas was theauthor and recalls Rumeu de Armas' opinion on two manuscripts, one byan anonymous biographer of Columbus, the other an account of the forthvoyage, made by Fernando, who took part in that perilous expedition, anda third anonymous manuscript, resulting from a fusion of the first two.Bellini recalls Gloria Luzzana Caraci's hypothesis put forth in her recentstudy Colombo vero e falso (Genova, 1989) that there must have beena manuscript by Fernando, but that the present work is the result of ananonymous author who combined that source with Las Casas' Historia delas Indias, Peter Martyr's De Orbe Novo and Oviedo's Historia Generaly Natural de las Indias. On this basis Bellini concludes that the book isthe result of several texts, chosen because of their favorable opinion ofColumbus, with the section on the fourth voyage which relies heavilyon Fernando's own account. After this discussion of sources Belliniunderscores the main purpose of the book: to defend the Admiral andpoint the finger of blame at the Catholic Kings. Interestingly enough, inthis section Bellini always takes for granted that Fernando is the authorand the one who accuses the kings of perfidy: "L'affascinante biografía,rivendicativa e denunciataria, restituiva lustro alla grande figura delloScopritore, additando responsabilità gravissime. Anche se i Re Cattolicierano defunti al momento délia pubblicazione veneziana, le Historienon cessavano di accusare, in sostanza, l'ingratitudine ispanica" [Thefascinating biography, which, at the same time, vindicates and denounces,brought back dignity to the great character of the Discoverer, pointing outvery serious responsibilities. Even if the Catholic Kings were no longeralive at the time of the Venetian publication, the Historie continued,fundamentally, to denounce Spanish ingratitude] (25). The book makesfascinating reading and had remained unpublished for decades, until theedition of Taviani-Caraci in 1990 and now, again, in 1992 by Bellini,undoubtedly due to the renewed interest sparked by the Fifth Centenaryof the Discovery, but also as a sign of a more sensitive perception of theimplications that this biography has for the current surge of scholarshipon the Admiral of the Ocean Sea.

Galeotto Cei's Viaggio e relazione delle Indie (1539-1553), publishedfor the first time by Francesco Surdich, is a curious piece on the earlycolonial history of America. Contemporary to Father Bartolomé de LasCasas, Father Toribio de Motolinía and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo,among others, Galeotto Cei spent some of his most adventurous yearsin the New World. Third son of Giovambattista Cei, who was executed

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258 Colonial Latin American Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 1-2, 1994

by the Medici for plotting against them in 1530, Galeotto left Florenceafter the confiscation of his father's properties and holdings, determinedto rebuild his fortune abroad. After a few years in Lyon, France as agentof the Salviati Bank, he went to Seville in 1532 where he remaineduntil 1537 when, having learned of an amnesty proclaimed by the DukeCosimo de Medici, and the abrogation of the confiscation degree forsome of the exiled, he decided to return to Florence only to learn thathe was not to receive restitution. He left Florence again in July of 1537,took part in the battle of Montemurlo, but was taken prisoner and jailedfirst in Pisa and then in the dungeons of the fortress of Livorno wherethe Duchess of Parma and the Governor Lop Hurtado de Mendoza foundhim and rescued him. In 1538 he was exiled to Spain for life. Thus hereturned to Seville where he had lost all his holdings. The followingyear he decided to leave for the Indies. He remained in America from1539 to 1553, buying and selling slaves, gold, pearls and carrying onany sort of trade and commerce which he saw profitable. In 1553 hereturned to Europe where he expanded his business ventures in severalcountries (Italy, Germany and France), until 1555, when he learned thatCosimo de' Medici had finally agreed to extend amnesty also to him. Hereturned to Florence in 1560 where he married twice, had five childrenand died in 1579.

The Viaggio e relazione was written soon after his return toEurope. Surdich confesses with candor that we do not know thedate of composition: "[Cei] redasse (non sappiamo pero quando) unacircostanziata relazione" [Cei wrote, however we do not know when, adetailed account] (iv). But at one point Cei states in his work: ". . . contante cose che, in 60 anni che sono discoperte l'lndie . . . " [with so manyevents, which in the sixty years since the discovery of America...] (10).The reference is to 1492 and sixty years later would have been 1552.Cei returned to Seville in 1553, sixty-one years after Columbus' firstvoyage. In the dedicatory letter to Bartolomeo Delbene, he says that hehas been the object of much criticism since his return from America:"Da diverse punture, dimande et riprehensione sono stato trafitto inquesta mia tomata d'India, cosi da amici come nimici et da malivoli"[Upon my return from America I have been stabbed by several needles,questions and reproaches from friends and foes alike and from maliciouspeople] (1). It seems to me that this was reason enough, as the authorindicates: "Et da queste cose mosso . . . ho preso questa fatica di porrescripte quelle cose mi sono accadute in processo di 14 anni" [Movedby these things . . . I have decided to take the trouble to write downwhat happened to me in that period of fourteen years] (1). Cei is noprofessional writer. He writes because he feels that this is the only

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Review Essays and Reviews of Books 259

effective way to counter all the fuss about his residence in America. Thereference to the sixty years and the motivation behind his work pointto that brief period immediately after his arrival in Seville and priorto his decision to attempt his luck. This time he seems to have beensuccessful, if his business expanded to a "multinational" organization andhe even lent money to the King of France. This also explains why theViaggio e relazione was abruptly interrupted while narrating his returnfrom the Gulf of Mexico in April of 1553, and never completed. TheViaggio e relazione is one of the most realistic accounts of early colonialhistory of America. It is based on autobiographical experiences and isan important document for the understanding of a period too often seenas the ideological battleground of opposite interpretative schools. Cei'saccount is personal and direct. He has no ideological dispute to settle.His judgements of Spanish cruelty should not be dismissed, because heis not an admirer of Las Casas, on the contrary. In spite of his opencriticism of Las Casas, whom he presents as a troublemaker, driven bypersonal ambition, Cei coincides with Las Casas' accusations of Spanishcruelty and does not diminish their responsibility for the deaths of largenumbers of Indians. He confirms that at the time of Columbus's arrivalin Hispaniola there were as many as a million natives and now, sixtyyears later, he says it would be difficult to find sixty Indians (9). Ceidenounces the "Requerimiento" as a mockery, describing the absurdityof speaking to people in a language that they cannot understand, showingthem a book (the Bible) that they have never seen, and mentioning thePope and the Spanish Monarch, of whom they have never heard (10).

We must be grateful to Professor Surdich for having published such avaluable document for the early colonial history of America.

Fray Toribio Motolinía's Carta is published here for the third time.It had been first published by Juan Bautista Muñoz and, more recently,by Javier Aragón (Mexico, 1986). In his 182 notes Professor Crovettohas contributed a well documented comment Practically each line ofMotolinía's text is discussed in great detail with a first class knowledge ofprimary and secondary sources. This is a key document to understand theextent and depth of the opposition against Las Casas which grew amongthe Spanish establishment in the American colonies. Encomenderos andmembers of the clergy, Governors and respected Franciscan friars likeMotolinia, joined forces and tried to stop the Bishop of Chiapa. Motoliniain his Carta tries to defend the "encomenderos" against Las Casas'unrelenting accusations. In his introduction, which reproduces the textof an article already published in 1985 in L'immagine riflessa (1985),Professor Crovetto tries to keep an impartial view of the "querelle." The

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reading of Motolinía's text reveals a great personal enmity against LasCasas. This is confirmed when we realize the weakness of his argumentsat least in two instances. The first is his claim that, at the moment ofthe composition of his letter (1552), there are barely a thousand Indianslaves in New Spain and that, by the end of the year, none would be left(20). The sad truth is that the Indians who worked in the encomiendas,which accounts for the vast majority of the known Indians, save forthose who had refused to accept the white man's rule and lived isolatedin the wild, were condemned to a life-sentence of slavery, degradationand exploitation. The "repartimiento" did not even consider family ties.Husbands and wives were separated and parents were torn away fromtheir children. The second instance that casts a shadow over Motolinía'scredibility is his lavish apology of Hernán Cortés, presented not only asa military hero and a political genius, which he probably was, but as apious and devout Christian, a compassionate man, one who took specialcare of the Indians, to the point of warning his soldiers, in the heat ofthe battle, not to strike back at the attacking Mexicans and only to returnthe fire to defend themselves and, even then, only to wound the Indians,not to kill them: "Donde no podía escusar guerra, rogaba Cortés a suscompañeros que se defendiesen cuanto buenamente pudiesen, sin ofender;y que cuando más no pudiesen, dezía que era mejor herir que matar, yque más temor ponía ir un indio herido, que quedar dos muertos en elcampo" [Where he could not avoid a fight, Cortés begged his friends todefend themselves as mildly as they could, without responding; and thatwhen they could not avoid it, he said that it was better to wound thanto kill, and that a wandering wounded Indian spread more fear [amongthe Indians] than two dead ones in the battlefield] (23). The cruelty ofthis imagery conjured by a Franciscan friar would be sufficient proof ofthe intrinsic cruelty of the Spanish conquest, even more so because itwas masked by an appearance of piety. Crovetto's "impartiality" on thisscore fails to identify Motolinía's less than noble motivations.

In her brief work Professor Donatella Ferro has provided us with amicrohistory of the presence of America in the Italian melodrama in theeighteenth century. The monographic study is grounded in a thoroughresearch of primary and secondary sources. Professor Ferro's method ofdiscussing the plot of a given libretto and comparing it with its literaryor historical sources proves enlightening. Beginning with a theoreticaldiscussion which serves to clarify that the text is conceived to showcasethe operatic ability of the singer, and, as such, is subject to changes andalterations in order to satisfy both the "virtuoso" performance and the

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expectations of the paying spectators, Ferro provides the documentationfor the intricate maze of sources behind a given "libretto."

For instance, Ferro identifies five different melodramas with librettoand musical score by different authors and composers, with the same title,La Vergine del Sole (The Virgin of the Sun), written between 1786 and1799, from Naples to Trieste, Pisa, Palermo and Livorno. Marmontel,author of Les Incas ou la destruction de l'empire du Pérou, the sourcefor this group of melodramas, is also the source of two other groupsof melodramas, under two other titles: Alonso e Cora, with one librettoand musical score (Venice, 1786) and Idalide, with six different librettosand musical scores (Milan, 1783, Florence, 1784, Torino, 1786, Vicenza,1787, Florence, 1788, London, 1791). Interestingly the librettos havekept some of the most important features of the original drama byMarmontel, such as the topic of the black legend and that of the noblesavage.

However Ferro's conclusion is that the libretto betrays an anachronisticperception of the New World: "Non si nota mai un accennoal diverso, diverso comportamentale, diverso d'usi, di costumi, dinatura. Si ripetono situazioni e circostanze già sfruttate, osereidire 'occasionalmente collocate in Peru'" [You never note anythingforeign, different behavior, customs, traditions, nature. Situationsand circumstances already utilized are repeated and, I dare to say,occasionally placed in Peru] (89).

These five volumes, in spite of their different purpose and size, havein common a serious commitment to the study of American colonialhistory, even in the peripheral contact of cultural resonances, showingthe vitality of today's Italian scholarship on colonial Latin America.

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