O humanista e a cidade : lucubra es erasmianas

What other thing is the city but a large monastery (letter to Martinho Dorp, 1518); I have always let myself be enchanted by the large buildings and the big cities (letter to Johann Choler, 1529). These two phrases by Desiderius Erasmus synthesise the theme of this article: the idea of the humanist from Rotterdam that the life of Christians should concentrate on the imitation and on the philosophy of Christ. Contrary to the so frequent praise of rural life during the Renaissance, Erasmus valued and appreciated the familiarity provided by the city both in friendship and on an intellectual level.