Michelangelo's poetry, a subject that has only recently enjoyed renewed attention by both Italian and foreign scholars, can be regarded as an invaluable document to the understanding ofthe.artist's personality and religious beliefs. It is well known that Michelangelo's religiosity was always a major source of inspiration for him. Since his youth, he had tried to reconcile pagan Humanism and Christian faith through the Neoplatonic philosophy of the Florentine humanist Marsilio Ficino, whose influential thought dominated the cultural spirit of the time. Also influential in the artist's religious formation was the figure of Gerolamo Savonarola. An advocate of moral reformation, Savonarola's sermons against the corruption of Florentine society and against the Church in general had a profound effect on Michelangelo's spirituality. After attempting to contextualise Michelangelo's poetry in the frame of Renaissance Italy, this research has been concerned primarily with the study of the poetic correspondence the artist shared with Vittoria Colonna, the Italian poetess much celebrated in her times both for her spiritual sonnets and for her religious 'activism'. It is in fact shortly after the beginning of his third and final stay in Rome (1535-6) that Michelangelo's faith seemed to develop towards the same Christcentred religiosity cultivated by the Italian evangelists called Spirituali, the religious 'circle' Vittoria Colonna was acquainted with. Regarded by many recent scholars more as 'a religious attitude' than as a unified movement, the 'circle'~ of the Spirituali was guided by some of the most influential Roman Catholic cardinals, i.e. .. cardinals Gasparo Contarini and Reginald Pole, who sympathised with Luther's doctrine ofjustification and, before the Council of Trent, worked to seek to obtain a reunification with the Protestants. The roots of this very peculiar Italian evangelical movement have been found In the humanism and Neo-Platonism of the preceding century, 'with possible connections to Gerolamo Savonarola and the Spanish alumbrados. Interestingly, the same roots can be traced in both Vittoria Colonna's and Michelangelo's poetic Journey. Far from believing that Vittoria Colonna was the only spiritual 'muse' of Michelangelo, this research will nevertheless outline that the same desire for understanding and for discussing the new theological ideas of the time was the basis of their poetic dialogue. Most important, the deep influence of Colonna's evangelical views and lyrics on Michelangelo's own figurative poetic language and aesthetic conception will finally come to light.