I «Discorsi militari» di Francesco Algarotti tra dialogo, lettera e biografia

One of the main goals of the Enlightenment was to debunk “arcana imperii“. Francesco Algarotti wanted to make the art of war known to common readers in a century when also Machiavelli was thought as «the great man» who, as Foscolo wrote, «made people see / the tears and blood with which [scepter] drips beneath». So Algarotti imitates Machiavelli’s method, adopts a plain style, and chooses the more informal genres of the letter and of the popular form of biography.