Ghirlanda: Di sei vaghi fiori scielti da piu famosi Giardini d'Italia, page 3 (verso) 1604

This is the third page from Pietro Paulo Tozzi’s book, *Ghirlanda*, made in Italy in the early 17th century. It's a woodcut that combines a decorative border with a block of text and a small emblem. Printed books like this one played a key role in the cultural and intellectual life of the Italian Renaissance. The text here is addressed to the reader, and it serves to introduce them to the rest of the book. It references Cherubino Ghirardacci, a Bolognese figure of the Augustinian order, while the emblem at the bottom is a symbolic motif that relates to the book’s themes. Books like this circulated among elite social circles, reflecting the intellectual and artistic interests of the time. They also served as a medium for disseminating knowledge, but also for constructing social status. Understanding this book, and others like it, means understanding the cultural institutions of early modern Italy. To research this further, we might consult libraries, archives, and other collections to trace the circulation of these texts and to understand their original readerships.