The purpose of this article is to compare Antonio de Nebrija’s Gramática Castellana (1492) and Leon Battista Alberti’s Grammatica Toscana. The latter was written in the second half of the fifteenth century, but it was ignored until its late publication in the twentieth century. A similar process happened to the Castilian treatise, in fact, its second edition had to wait until the Enlightenment. Both grammars have the aim of regulating language, and are carried out by intellectuals that, even though they had different education, coincided in the defence of their own native language. During the five-year period in which Nebrija stayed in Bologna, from 1465 to 1470, it is quite probable that Alberti and Nebrija did not meet each other. However, the famous Italian humanist and the unknown Seville student shared, in the same geographical area, similar linguistic interests. It is only after centuries that the importance of the two first romance grammars will be acknow­ledged. Even nowadays, they still present a cloak of mystery when trying to explain their genesis and influence on the development of the following grammaticography.

Código UNESCO / UNESCO Nomenclature: 550614, 570200.