Piacevoli ragionamenti e medicina per le donne. Giovanni Marinello, medico galante del tardo cinquecento.

The works of Giovanni Marinello on women's diseases and cosmetics offer two main benefits: on the one hand we get traditional medical notions about female physiology and pathology presented in a comprehensible way, through the use of vernacular and the unpretentious style, while on the other hand they give precious information on aspects of everyday life. Problems connected with health and illness, life appearance of the body or pain and the strategies to eliminate them occupy a big part of these practical treatise, in which we find not only prescriptions but also discoursive parts. Reflections about esthetical canons and ideals, about the relationship between nature and art or technology and the human duty to enter in competition with natural laws are some of the topics discussed. The analysis of Marinello's texts pousses on the content but also on the form to present them to a mostly feminine audience of readers.