Maurizio Viroli

Maurizio Viroli (Born March 14, 1952) is an Italian scholar, emeritus professor of political theory at Princeton University and the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano, known for his work on political philosophy and the history of political thought.

Machiavelli’s God (2011)

 * Religion is for Machiavelli utterly necessary to found, preserve, and reform good political orders. He stated this view in the most unequivocal manner. At the same time he knew very well that the only available religion was the Christian. Had he believed and argued that Christian religion was in its essence and hopelessly inimical to good political orders and above all to republican liberty he would have been compelled to also believe and argue that good political orders and republican liberty were impossible for the moderns in general and for the Italians in particular, a conclusion that he never entertained. Instead, he believed in, and suggested, the possibility of a civic interpretation of Christianity similar to the one that he knew existed in his Florence.
 * Preface