What was the working method that Leopardi used to produce his first book of poetry, the Canzoni (1824)? What were his literary and cultural models? This study reconstructs Leopardi's method--his many readings, especially of works from the 16th century, his revolutionary reflections on aesthetics and art, his tireless reworking of his poetry with the goal of creating a new poetic language--and his models, from Foscolo to Monti, from Caro to Montesquieu. Interweaving philology and literary analysis, Paola Italia recounts the story of Leopardi's Canzoni, based on a careful study of manuscript variants of the Canzoni and the Annotazioni.