The article focusses on the historical figure of Girolamo Savonarola, and attempts to analyse the connections between his output as a self-translating author and the multiple roles he played throughout his life as a teacher, preacher, political leader and prophet, the types of texts and literary genres he practiced, and the plurality of audiences he addressed. In particular, it aims to produce an account of the context and motivations which presided over his self-translation of the Compendio di rivelazioni/Compendium revelationum (1495). An analysis of the impact that this work exerted on Savonarola’s enemies and supporters demonstrates its significance as a case study for a broader understanding of late Quattrocento Italy’s distinctive “bilingual public sphere”. I shall argue, in conclusion, that self-translation can be not only an object of investigation in its own right, but also a heuristic tool, allowing us to explore capital questions of Early Modern cultural and intellectual history, such as the social construction of authorship, and its relation to religious and political leadership at the dawn of print-culture.