The Accademia degli Apatisti was a scholarly society founded in Florence in 1632 and associated with the Studio Fiorentino. Together with the
Accademia degli Umidi
The Accademia Fiorentina was a philosophical and literary academy in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance.
History
The Accademia Fiorentina was founded in Florence on 1 November 1540 as the Accademia degli Umidi, or "academy of the wet ones ...
and the
Accademia della Crusca
The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language ...
it was one of Florence’s dominant literary academies of the XVII century.
Cosimo III de' Medici
Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinan ...
. The academy had grown out of meetings held by Coltellini and his young companions in his lodgings in the Via dell'Oriuolo, during and immediately after the plague of 1630-1, for the purpose of mutual assistance and encouragement in their studies. By the year 1638, the Academy had been fully established. Their name derives from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
term ἀπάθεια, impassibility, describing the rational, emotionally detached attitude towards life upheld by the Academy members. The Apatisti adopted the
sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
for their
emblem
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.
Emblems vs. symbols
Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...
. Their motto was ''"Oltre i confini ancor del mondo nostro"'' ('Beyond the confines of this world of ours'), a line by the Italian poet
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...
. The Academy meetings were held in Coltellini's house.
One of the rules of the Apatisti (and there was a similar custom in most of the Italian academies) was that every member should, in his academic connexions, be known not by his own name but by some
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
or
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
. Coltellini adopted the anagrammatic name “Ostilio Contalgeni”.
Such were the attractions of this academy, and so energetic was Coltellini in its behalf, that within ten or twenty years after its foundation, it had a fame among the Italian academies equal, in some respects, to that of the first and oldest, and counted among its members not only all the eminent Florentines, but most of the distinguished ''literati'' of Italy, besides cardinals, Italian princes and dukes, many foreign nobles and scholars, and at least one pope. When
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
visited Florence in 1638-9 he befriended many of the Apatisti, notably Benedetto Buommattei, Carlo Dati and Agostino Coltellini. Not only did he attend meetings of the Academy but more than likely applied for membership.
On 7 July 1783 the new
Habsburg-Lorraine
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine (german: Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Cr ...
Grand Duke, Leopold II, abolished the Florentine Academy, the Accademia della Crusca and the Accademia degli Apatisti.
Notable members
*
Alessandro Adimari
Alessandro Adimari (; 1579 – 1649) was an Italian Baroque poet and classical scholar.
Biography
Alessandro Adimari was born of a noble Florentine family in 1579. He held minor government offices and was a member of the Accademia degli Altera ...
*
Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis
Canon Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis ( mt, Ġan Piet Franġisk Agius de Soldanis, 30 October 1712 – 30 January 1770), often called de Soldanis ( mt, Sultana), was a Maltese linguist, historian and cleric from the island of Gozo. ...
* Ansaldo Ansaldi
*
Angelico Aprosio
Angelico Aprosio (29 October 1607 – 23 February 1681) was an Italian Augustine monk, scholar, and bibliophile.
Biography
He entered the Augustinian order on March 19, 1623, while still but 15 years of age, changing his baptismal name of ...
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...
* Agostino Coltellini (Ostilio Contalgeni)
* Carlo Roberto Dati (Ardaclito)
*
Ferdinando II de' Medici
Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was Grand Duchy of Tuscany, grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II de' Medici and Archduchess Maria Madd ...
*
Stefano della Bella
Stefano della Bella (17 May 1610 – 12 July 1664) was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes. He left 1052 prints, and sev ...
* Mattia de Paoli
*
Giovanni Battista Fagiuoli
Giovanni Battista Fagiuoli (24 June 1660 – 1742) was an Italian poet and dramatists, noted for his light and humorous works.
Biography
He was born in Florence. He was known as a comic and sarcastic wit in the Medici court and salons of the 18th ...
* Benedetto Fioretti (Udeno Nisieli)
*
Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder
Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder ( la, Nicolaus Heinsius; 20 July 1620 – 7 October 1681) was a Dutch classical scholar, poet and diplomat. He travelled all over Europe to visit the major libraries and over time collected Europe's largest priva ...
*
Giovanni Lami
Giovanni Lami (8 November 1697 – 6 February 1770) was an Italian jurist, church historian, and antiquarian.
Biography
He was born at Santa Croce sull'Arno (between Pisa and Florence) into a relatively affluent family; his paternal family ...
*
Lorenzo Lippi
Lorenzo Lippi (3 May 1606 – 15 April 1665) was an Italian painter and poet.
Biography
Born in Florence, he studied painting under Matteo Rosselli. Both Baldassare Franceschini and Francesco Furini were also apprenticed with Rosselli, th ...
(Perlone Zipoli)
* Antonio Malatesti (Alamonio Transetti)
*
Lorenzo Magalotti
Lorenzo Magalotti (24 October 1637 – 2 March 1712) was an Italian philosopher, author, diplomat and poet.
Magalotti was born in Rome into an aristocratic family, the son of Ottavio Magalotti, Prefect of the Pontifical Mail: his uncle Lorenz ...
*
Domenico Maria Manni Domenico Maria Manni (8 April 1690 – 30 November 1788) was an Italian polymath, editor, and publisher. He was born to father who was a typesetter at a printer's shop. Domenico Maria became a member of the Accademia della Crusca, and librarian for ...
*
Carlo Antonio Manzini
Conte Carlo Antonio Manzini (1599–1677/1678) was an Italian astronomer and mathematician. (His last name is sometimes given as Mangini or Mansini).
Biography
A member of the Bolognese nobility, he was a member of the Accademia dei Gelati ...
Gilles Ménage
Gilles Ménage (; 15 August 1613 – 23 July 1692) was a French scholar.
Biography
He was born at Angers, the son of Guillaume Ménage, king's advocate at Angers. A good memory and enthusiasm for learning carried him quickly through his lite ...
*
Francesco Redi
Francesco Redi (18 February 1626 – 1 March 1697) was an Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet. He is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology", and as the "father of modern parasitology". He was the first person to cha ...
*
Cristina Roccati
Cristina Roccati (24 October 1732 in Rovigo – 16 March 1797 in Rovigo) was an Italian physicist and poet who earned a degree at the University of Bologna (1751). This was the third academic qualification ever bestowed on a woman by an Italian un ...
* Francesco Rovai (Rainero Fucasco)
*
Anton Maria Salvini
Anton Maria Salvini (1653–1729) was an Italian naturalist and classicist who lived in Tuscany. An accomplished linguist, he is noted for his translations of texts in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
Biography
Born in Florence, at the age of 12, h ...
Nicolas Steno
Niels Steensen ( da, Niels Steensen; Latinized to ''Nicolaus Steno'' or ''Nicolaus Stenonius''; 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686Anton Maria Vannucchi
*
Vincenzo Viviani
Vincenzo Viviani (April 5, 1622 – September 22, 1703) was an Italian mathematician and scientist. He was a pupil of Torricelli and a disciple of Galileo.
*
Stefano Zannowich
Stefano Zannowich ( sh, Stefan or Stjepan Zanović, ; 18 February 1751–25 May 1786) was an adventurer from Budva who gained considerable notoriety for posing as royalty. His most important published work was the 1776 "Turkish Letters".
Biograp ...