Abstract

Poliziano´s Favola d´Orfeo is one of the most rich and enigmatic literary works of the Renaissance, specially in terms of the debate it has generated amongst scholars when discerning its allegorical background. Starting from its general contextualization within the simbolic program of Marsilio Ficino´s Florentine Accademy, this paper aims to show: Its uniqueness with regards to the rest of Renaissance philosophical and literary productions of orphic subject; Its particular critical reception of three basic elements of the ficinian system: love, frenzy and catharsis; and Its adoption of a new moralising tendency within Renaissance neoplatonism in explicit accordance with Christianity.