Giordano Bruno's the Candle-Bearer an Enigmatic Renaissance Play

This comparative study of Giordano Bruno's Candelaio examines a large number of theatrical authors, from the classical tradition as well as from Italian vernacular and dialect. It takes into account Bruno's recognized sources as well as unknown authors, philosophers as well as poets, playwrights as well as 'poligrafi della penna'. The study concludes that it is the polemic attack on pedantry - in the special sense attributed to it by Bruno - which constitutes the central impulse of Candelaio: a polemic against intellectual obscurantism and degenerated morals. This meaning explains and justifies, emblematically, the title itself: Candelaio is the bearer of the light of truth. Thus, by its very name, the play declares its function, to clarify and enlighten - and claims the ethical significance, as a human and social document, which makes it worth reading.