Abstract

The author analyzes the way Machiavelli appears and is interpreted in Carl Schmitt's works. Two main results derives from this analysis: first that Machiavelli is for Schmitt more interesting than important, more cited than studied; and second that the varying judgments that the German jurist formulates on the Italian writer must be explained from the complex and varied attitudes that both Schmitt and Machiavelli have towards the political modernity.