When Leonardos Treatise on painting was published in 1651, added to the beginning of the volume was a list of works which can be considered to be the very first bibliography of treatises on European art: 24 of the 34 titles are in Italian. It is one of the many indications of how Italian developed into the language of the arts in modern Europe. Words such as maniera, facciata, disegno, ritratto have been adopted by other languages in order to define styles, architectonic design and figurative techniques. From the earliest testimony up to the end of 1600, this book shows the various ways in which Italian became the language of reference for arts and architecture in Europe in just a few hundred years.

Matteo Motolese Matteo Motolese teaches Italian Linguistics at Sapienza University in Rome.