"Una scuola di silenzio". Maschere della dissimulazione e forme della comunicazione politica in Paolo Sarpi.

This article discusses the relationship between Sarpi and dissimulation. The Venetian friar criticizes the Jesuits because through aequivocatio they use language to deceive. At the same time, however, Sarpi believes that it is permissible to make use of dissimulation so asnot to put oneself at risk, even to the confessor. From a religious point of view he is also convinced that not all opinions and doubts should be disclosed. Sarpi, as advisor to the Venetian senate during the Interdict advised a strategy based on dissimulation, as in many cases it was necessary to keep political news secret. A few years later, however, he declared that the State should react to the publication of libels that challenged the obedient relationship of subjects to the state. Sarpi, therefore is both a theorist of dissimulation and one of the first protagonists in the formation of a sphere of public opinion based on the circulation of news.