The Accademia degli Infiammati (Academy of Burning One) was founded in Padua, on June 6 1540, by Leone Orsini, in partnership with Florentine humanist Benedetto Varchi, and Venetian humanist Daniele Barbaro, who drafted the academic statute. The choice of name stems from the impresa adopted by the Academy: the image of an inflamed Hercules on Mount Oeta, along with the motto “once burned, the mortal will go to heaven eternally,” which was meant to signify the search for immortality by means of devotion to scholarship. The head of the Academy was a prince, whose election occurred generally every four months and whose duty it was to schedule lectures, which were usually held on Thursdays and Sundays. The Academy remained active at least until May of 1542. Despite its brief existence, it is considered one of the most important sixteenth-century academies, because its influence on the culture of that century was ongoing and reached well beyond the Venetian area. This was primarily due to the fact that it absorbed the great philosophical-scientific tradition of the University of Padua; the influence of Pietro Pomponazzi’s mentorship, especially by means of his pupil Sperone Speroni; the heritage Pietro Bembo had bequeathed to that area; and the culture contributed by such eminent Tuscan figures such as Benedetto Varchi and Alessandro Piccolomini, who along with Speroni were the leading figures of the Academy. The Infiammati pursued a program inspired by a philosophically based system of knowledge that preferably hinged on ethics, rhetoric and literature; a program to be divulged specifically through the use of the Italian vernacular language and culture. By actively working in order to extend the use of the vernacular to all aspects of knowledge, including philosophy and science, the Academy did not just adjust to new requirements for the dissemination of knowledge; it also set the foundation for a universal vernacular language.
Fondata a Padova il 6 giugno 1540 da Leone Orsini con la collaborazione del fiorentino Benedetto Varchi e del veneziano Daniele Barbaro, estensori della legislazione accademica, l’Accademia degli Infiammati rimase attiva almeno fino al maggio del 1542. A dispetto della sua breve esistenza fu una delle più importanti accademie italiane cinquecentesche per l’influsso che esercitò sugli sviluppi della cultura non solo veneta lungo tutto il secolo. La principale ragione di ciò risiede nel fatto che in essa confluirono la grande tradizione filosofico-scientica dell’Università di Padova; l’influsso del magistero di Pietro Pomponazzi, soprattutto attraverso il suo discepolo padovano Sperone Speroni; l’eredità lasciata in terra veneta da Pietro Bembo; l’apporto della cultura toscana attraverso Benedetto Varchi e Alessandro Piccolomini, insieme allo Speroni i principali animatori dell’Accademia. Fondato su una sistemazione del sapere che assegna il primato alla filosofia e articolato di preferenza attorno a etica e letteratura, il programma degli Infiammati perseguì l’obiettivo di promuovere la cultura e la lingua volgare. Adoperandosi per estendere l’uso della lingua moderna a tutti i campi del sapere, anche filosofico e scientifico, l’Accademia padovana non solo intese rispondere a una nuova esigenza di divulgazione del sapere, ma gettò le basi per la fondazione di un universale linguaggio volgare.
Girardi, M., Voce "Accademia degli Infiammati", in Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, Springer, Basel 2015: 0-0. 10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_335-1 [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/67393]
Accademia degli Infiammati
Girardi, Mariateresa
2015
Abstract
The Accademia degli Infiammati (Academy of Burning One) was founded in Padua, on June 6 1540, by Leone Orsini, in partnership with Florentine humanist Benedetto Varchi, and Venetian humanist Daniele Barbaro, who drafted the academic statute. The choice of name stems from the impresa adopted by the Academy: the image of an inflamed Hercules on Mount Oeta, along with the motto “once burned, the mortal will go to heaven eternally,” which was meant to signify the search for immortality by means of devotion to scholarship. The head of the Academy was a prince, whose election occurred generally every four months and whose duty it was to schedule lectures, which were usually held on Thursdays and Sundays. The Academy remained active at least until May of 1542. Despite its brief existence, it is considered one of the most important sixteenth-century academies, because its influence on the culture of that century was ongoing and reached well beyond the Venetian area. This was primarily due to the fact that it absorbed the great philosophical-scientific tradition of the University of Padua; the influence of Pietro Pomponazzi’s mentorship, especially by means of his pupil Sperone Speroni; the heritage Pietro Bembo had bequeathed to that area; and the culture contributed by such eminent Tuscan figures such as Benedetto Varchi and Alessandro Piccolomini, who along with Speroni were the leading figures of the Academy. The Infiammati pursued a program inspired by a philosophically based system of knowledge that preferably hinged on ethics, rhetoric and literature; a program to be divulged specifically through the use of the Italian vernacular language and culture. By actively working in order to extend the use of the vernacular to all aspects of knowledge, including philosophy and science, the Academy did not just adjust to new requirements for the dissemination of knowledge; it also set the foundation for a universal vernacular language.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
