Il lotto in rima

Polemiche romane e pasquinate settecentesche

[Lottery in verse. Roman controversies and 18th century pasquinades]

by Gherardo Ortalli

Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche-Viella

Treviso-Rome, forthcoming

(Ludica Minima, 3)

This  volume in the “Ludica Minima” series takes us to the heart of the 18th century and the heated controversy over whether lotteries should be allowed or banned, with first-hand accounts, protests and initiatives to deal with the often convergent aspects of economic and moral problems and those of good governance. Papal Rome thus had an important and extremely delicate role to play, and the texts gathered here explore the serious ethical, cultural and administrative issues being debated. It is through irony, humour and satire, however, that these verses tackle one of the key problems facing the society of the day.

Gherardo Ortalli, Emeritus professor of History at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, has been associated with the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche since its creation. He is the editor of the journal «Ludica. Annali di storia e civiltà del gioco» and chairman of the Gaetano Cozzi Prize for studies on the history of games. A former chairman of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, and a member of several other Italian and foreign academies, his awards include the 2017 Federico Chabod Prize of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei for the best work on mediaeval, modern or contemporary history published in the previous five years, and the 2018 Osella d’Oro Prize for studies on Venice.