Coluccio Salutati, a eloquência e a defesa da poesia como verdade

Abstract

The present study seeks to analyze the relevance of poetry in the thought of Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence between 1375 and 1406, highlighting how the author conceived eloquence and the word as instruments for shaping man and for carrying out the political and educational project of Renaissance humanism. By examining his letters, especially those of 1374, 1378, 1398, and 1406, it becomes clear that Salutati associates poetry with access to truth and the cultivation of virtue, in constant dialogue with the classical tradition. The research emphasizes that, within the humanism of the Trecento and
Quattrocento, the poet was not restricted to the role of a man of letters but assumed a public and pedagogical function, spreading republican ideals and educating citizens. The duality between res and verba, central to the Chancellorʼs thought, demonstrates that the word is not a mere ornament but a vehicle of knowledge. Poetry, alongside oratory, emerges as a means of mobilizing consciences, building civic life, and recovering the legacy of Latin antiquity, establishing itself as a cornerstone of the studia humanitatis project. Thus, Salutatiʼs defense of poetry intertwines grammar, aesthetics, morality, and politics, reaffirming its capacity to transmit profound knowledge and transform social reality, while at the same time projecting the humanist poet as a craftsman of the world and a model of virtue.