Verso le virtù celesti. La letterata conversazione dell’Accademia degli Insensati di Perugia (1561-1608).

Abstract

In the still in many respects uncharted territory of the early modern Italian Academies, this thesis focuses on the earliest phase of the Accademia degli Insensati of Perugia (1561-1608). Although almost unknown to scholars now, the Perugian Academy was held in high esteem in the Late Renaissance. Over and above its local members, the Academy’s fame attracted outstanding poets (Giovan Battista Marino and Battista Guarini), renowned artists (Federico Zuccari), influential cardinals (Bonifacio Bevilacqua, Silvio Savelli, Maffeo Barberini – the future pope Urban VIII), who were all elected members. Both rooted in the city culture and open to contacts with other centres, the Accademia degli Insensati may be said to be genuinely representative of a typical mid-sized institution of its kind.

After an introductory chapter presenting an overview of the academic phenomenon in the XVI and XVII century, the following chapters aim to reconstruct the history of the Academy and examine its literary output in depth. The analysis is conducted primarily on unpublished material, which shows the evolution of the institution over a period of approximately fifty years. The data collected for the purpose of this project range from unpublished material, such as the academic lectures preserved in Perugia (Biblioteca Augustea) and the hitherto unexplored lectures held in Trieste (Biblioteca Attilio Hortis) to the works published by the academicians. The examination of the entire corpus has led to identify three main areas of interest, which I have broadly described as self-referential, literary and philosophical. An element of great interest is represented by the establishment and reception of new literary and aesthetic theories and trends in the crucial passage from the Late Renaissance to the Baroque age.

The thesis’ main aim is to properly evaluate the cultural impact of academic activities, in the intent of determining their actual contribution to the world of learning and the influence exercised by them. This appeared to be the only effective way of striking a middle course between the enthusiastic judgement of the contemporaries and the widespread scepticism of 19th and 20th-century scholars.