Memorie letterarie, luoghi, libri e tradizioni: piccolo ‘stradario’ di percorribilità per rilanciare una ricerca

This paper aims to reopen and relaunch scholarly inquiry into Siena and Humanism, a field whose foundations still largely rest on the seminal studies produced during the 1980s and 1990s and which now calls for renewed investigation. Adopting the metaphor of a street map, the contribution outlines a series of promising research paths, identifying archival and manuscript studies as the primary route for future developments. At the same time, it argues for the need to move beyond the dominant and often exclusive Siena-Florence paradigm, seeking instead broader networks, connections, and perspectives capable of reshaping our understanding of Sienese humanism. Particular attention is devoted to Francesco Filelfo and the active legacy of his pupils Agostino Dati and Francesco Patrizi, to the importance of Dati's correspondence, and to new evidence concerning Pacifico Massimi. The paper also revisits Neruccio da Matelica as a copyist and reader of Petrarch, explores the interaction between Latin and vernacular poetry in the late fifteenth century, and highlights the significance of figures such as Angelo Colocci and Cingoli. Rather than providing definitive answers, the contribution aims to sketch a research agenda for a renewed understanding of Sienese humanism, its wider intellectual networks, and its place within the intellectual landscape of Renaissance Italy.