In Petrucci's sixth frottola book (1505) is a group of four pieces of unusual cast. They are scored for three voices (nearly all of Petrucci's frottole are four-voice compositions), their texts are not in any of the usual frottola forms, and their language is archaic. Two of them have been attributed to Leonardo Giustiniani (ca. 1383-1446). Their music, at once rough and highly melismatic, differs sharply from frottolistic norms. These pieces present an interpretive challenge: are they faithful representatives of the aria veneziana or giustiniana of the first half of the fifteenth century, midcentury versions of this genre, or late survivors of an old tradition? In this article it is argued that they are something of all of these, and yet something else: self-conscious representations (loaded with deliberate archaisms) of a tradition once known through much of the Italian peninsula and especially loved in Venice, home to Petrucci's activity as collector and publisher of music.