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Private writing as a journey through history: Orazio Del Mont e’s lett ers (1666-1668)

The paper considers private writing as a tool to tell a story from a privileged erspective, namely that of the first to live and act in a given context: specifically it aims to illustrate the work that the authors are making on the letters of Orazio del Monte, a dignitary at the court of Christina of Sweden, in light of contemporary research on the correspondence of other characters gravitating around the queen (Cesare Macchiati, Cardinal Decio Azzolino).Therefore, the paper analyzes both the assumptions and the approach (historical, philological ,literary and critical) that underlie the work of the critical edition of del Monte’s letters, part of a larger project, which aims to reconstruct Cristina’s court as faithfully as possible in its historical and social implications. Likewise, the private missive becomes a breeding ground for linguistic studies and for travel literature, fields that need to be taken into account when settling publishing criteria: the paper gives the reasons for the choices made by the authors in charge of the work on del Monte’s letters.