The Creation and Reception of Fortunio's Regole Grammaticali (1516).

The first printed grammar of the Italian vernacular, Fortunio's Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua (1516) responded to a need for guidance in imitating Tuscan authors of the Trecento, in line with the doctrine whose most authoritative proponent was Pietro Bembo. The Regole emerged on the fringes of the cultural mainstream. Fortunio conceived the work in Venice but he came to be suspected of treachery against that state. The structure of the Regole does not follow slavishly that of the Regulae grammaticales used to teach Latin. Fortunio owes much to the work of Bembo, but he does not follow him in every respect. The Regole appeared in a relatively minor centre, Ancona, where shortly afterwards Fortunio died violently. The nature of the Regole, and indeed its very existence, did not meet with universal approval. However, it was reprinted frequently in the Cinquecento and had a formative influence on the early study of Italian grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]