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The intellectual societies known as Academies played a vital role in the development of culture, and scholarly debate throughout Italy between 1525-1700. They were fundamental in establishing the intellectual networks later defined as the 'République des Lettres', and in the dissemination of ideas in early modern Europe, through print, manuscript, oral debate and performance. This volume surveys the social and cultural role of Academies, challenging received ideas and incorporating recent archival findings on individuals, networks and texts.
Ranging over Academies in both major and smaller or peripheral centres, these collected studies explore the interrelationships of Academies with other cultural forums. Individual essays examine the fluid nature of academies and their changing relationships to the political authorities; their role in the promotion of literature, the visual arts and theatre; and the diverse membership recorded for many academies, which included scientists, writers, printers, artists, political and religious thinkers, and, unusually, a number of talented women. Contributions by established international scholars together with studies by younger scholars active in this developing field of research map out new perspectives on the dynamic place of the Academies in early modern Italy.
The publication results from the research collaboration 'The Italian Academies 1525-1700: the first intellectual networks of early modern Europe' funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and is edited by the senior investigators.
List of contents
1 Defining the Place of Academies in Florentine Culture and Politics 2 Pro- and anti-Medici? Political Ambivalence and Social Integration in the Accademia degli Alterati (Florence, 1569-c. 1625) 3 Accademie senesi: tramonto e alba di una respublica litteraria 4 Reforming Theatre in Farnese Parma: The Case of the Accademia degli Innominati (1574-1608) 5 The Accademia della Fucina: Culture and Politics in Seventeenth-Century Messina 6 The Accademia della Virtu and Religious Dissent 7 A Ghost Academy between Venice and Brescia: Philosophical Scepticism and Religious Heterodoxy in the Accademia dei Dubbiosi 8 Between Church, University and Academies: Paolo Beni in Padua, 1599-1623 9 Members, Muses, Mascots: Women and Italian Academies 10 The Accademia di San Luca between Educational and Religious Reform 11 'Nec longum tempus': l'Accademia dei Gelati tra xvi e xvii secolo (1588-1614) 12 Italian Academies and their 'Facebooks' 13 Accademia come palestra e come tribuna: Girolamo Ruscelli sdegnato, ardente, dubbioso, fratteggiano 14 L 'Accademia Palermitana degli Accesi: un esempio di petrarchismo nel tardo Cinquecento 15 Da Francesco Petrarca a Giovan Battista Marino: l'Accademia degli Insensati di Perugia (1561-1608) 16 Bronzino e l'Accademia Fiorentina 17 L a poesia funebre all'Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza 18 Dee, imperatrici, cortigiane: la natura della donna nei romanzi degli Incogniti (Venezia)
About the author
Jane Everson is Professor of Italian Literature in the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Denis V. Reidy is Head of the Italian and Modern Greek Collections at the British Library.
Lisa Sampson is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and European Studies at the University of Reading.
Summary
The intellectual societies known as Academies played a vital role in the development of culture, and scholarly debate throughout Italy between 1525-1700.
