La Madonna dei Palafrenieri e l’epigramma ritrovato di Giovanni Zaratino Castellini

This paper is focused on Giovanni Zaratino Castellini (1570 – 1641). He was a roman intellectual famous for his work on Iconologia in collaboration with Cesare Ripa, to whom he gave his contribution since the 1613’s edition adding new allegories. Castellini during his lifetime in Rome met many of the most famous intellectuals and founded the Accademia degli Umoristi. In 1605 Castellini moved to Faenza but, before leaving Rome he often visited Andrea Ruffetti’s house, where Caravaggio lived and painted the Madonna dei Palafrenieri. The intellectual later composed an epigram raising Caravaggio’s painting. In 1985 Paola Della Pergola studied the content of a Vittorio Rossi’s enigmatic letter and exposed the existence of Castellini’s epigram: till now this poem was unknown. During the research activity for my thesis writing, I have found this poem and now I submit in this paper the latin text of the epigram with its translation.