Bernardino Ochino (1487–1564) is one of the most controversial figures of the sixteenth-century religious crisis, as he played a pivotal role not only within the Italian context but also among the European network of Protestant dissenters.

Due to their indisputable importance, Ochino's work and role have been examined both in major studies (e.g., the monographs by Karl Beinrath and Roland Bainton) and in recent critical editions devoted to a selected part of his many treaties. Scholarly attention has been chiefly directed toward Ochino's “reformed” period, that is, the time following his notorious flight of 1542. In that crucial year, the Capuchin friar, having suspected the Inquisitorial action against him by Paul III's Roman curia, reached the decision to leave both Italy and his order, and head toward Calvinist Geneva; this very move turned into a lifelong exile, which ended only with Ochino's death in Moravia, in 1564.

This past year, Michele Camaioni has released a monumental work on Ochino's Italian years. During this time Ochino was a famous preacher (firstly as an observant Franciscan, then as a Capuchin who enjoyed prestigious positions within his order); was admired by the ecclesiastical authorities; and was widely acclaimed for the sermons he delivered throughout the country. At this very time, Ochino acted (at least, from a given moment in time, only in appearance) according to the expectations of the Catholic higher clergy. And, yet, he was progressively and simultaneously developing his own religious convictions.

Camaioni's volume comprises four chapters; the first three reconstruct the three decisive phases Ochino experienced before 1542. The first pertains to the friar's training years and first preaching activity (up to about the mid-1530s), when he carried out his mission not only in his native Siena, but also in the Veneto region; there Ochino came into contact with leading personalities, such as Gian Matteo Giberti (bishop of Verona) and the Venetian cardinal Gasparo Contarini. The following chapter focuses on the “evangelical preaching” triennium/biennium (1535–37) when Ochino reached the pinnacle of his preaching career and entered into contact with the Valdesian milieu. The third chapter deals with the remaining years up to Ochino's flight. Camaioni focuses in particular on Ochino's success and on his decisive transition to a concealed preaching style. The latter is a sort of Nicodemitic expedient, necessary to avoid giving the appearance of deviating from ecclesiastical directives and, yet, not to renounce his own, new, religious and spiritual convictions. It is inevitable, however, that the preaching in disguise could not have satisfied the Capuchin's own yearning for truth—he was living through a religious identity crisis at the time—confirmed by the continued “heterodox proselytism,” carried out in private gatherings and concurrent to the display of a regular public mission. Such a perilous situation had definitely made him disagreeable to Cardinal Carafa, and eventually precipitated the decision to abandon altogether the church and his homeland.

Pertinently, a fourth chapter follows as a sort of corollary, and is centered on the first period of Ochino's exile: the arrival in Geneva (where he took on the role of community preacher for the local Italian exiles); his intense publishing activity, mostly consisting of sermons; his Augsburg sojourn; and the role he played for the Schmalkaldic League. Camaioni's fine reconstruction is not merely a patient collection of historical data, but is rather, and most importantly, a story of how the Sienese's peregrination fits into, and contributes to, not simply a personal history of development and growth, but a broader historical period. This reconstruction is carried out through the study of a body of documentary and bibliographic data. Moreover, the author offers interpretative guides pertaining to the figure of Ochino, which become indispensable reading-keys for the entire legacy of the Sienese heterodox.

The word limit forces me to highlight only one aspect, namely Ochino's role as preacher. This went beyond pastoral care and assumed the connotations of an extraordinary course of social and political commitment. Indeed, on several occasions, Camaioni underscores how the words delivered from the pulpit called for charitable actions toward others in the search for God; such exhortation established a link between the personal sphere of faith and the public display of charity, which in sixteenth-century Italy had predominantly a collective dimension, as it entailed a close cooperation with the civil authorities.

This very aspect of Ochinian thought is, furthermore, revealing of the role assumed by one's works in binomial unity with one's faith: true charity does not amount to the execution of empty actions; it is rather the indispensable outcome of a deep search within, which ought to nurture one's trust in God and in his grace. There is still much to be noted regarding Camaioni's book, rich as it is in ideas and interpretative suggestions. What is certain is that this work is demonstrably a milestone within sixteenth-century Italian Reformation studies, and as such an irreplaceable text to know and understand an important period—thus far neglected—of the religious and existential parable of Bernardino Ochino.