De difficillima doctrinae palma capescenda. L'auctoritas di Lorenzo Valla nell'epistola-trattato di Lorenzo Zane a Giorgio Bevilacqua da Lazise (1456)

The letter by Lorenzo Zane to Giorgio Bevilacqua from Lasize is a short scholarly treatise concerning the doctrine, where every argument is functional to the consecration of Lorenzo Valla as the greatest cultural auctoritas of his times. Its analysis shows that this letter has to be surely contextualised within the frame of the campaign of consensus promoted just by Zane and intended to assign to Valla the prestigious role of official historian of Venice. Thus, it is an extremely interesting text both because it throws light on the barely known chapter of the biography of Valla pertaining his nomination for the role of official historian of the Republic of Venice and because it also adds an important detail to the more general but not less debated matter of the origin of the Venetian humanistic historiography.