Alessio Piemontese, also known under his

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized name of Alexius Pedemontanus, was the pseudonym of a 16th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

, and author of the immensely popular book, ''The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont''. His book was published in more than a hundred editions and was still being reprinted in the 1790s. The work was translated into Latin, German, English, Spanish, French, and Polish. The work unleashed a torrent of '

books of secrets Books of secrets were compilations of technical and medicinal recipes and magic formulae that began to be printed in the sixteenth century and were published continuously down to the eighteenth century. They constituted one of the most popular genr ...

' that continued to be published down through the eighteenth century. Piemontese was the prototypical 'professor of secrets'. His description of his hunt for secrets in the preface to the ''Secreti'' helped to give rise to a legend of the wandering empiric who dedicated his life to the search for natural and technological secrets. The book contributed to the emergence of the concept of science as a hunt for the secrets of nature, which pervaded experimental science during the period of the

Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transfo ...

. It is generally assumed that Alessio Piemontese was a

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 ...

Girolamo Ruscelli Girolamo Ruscelli (1518–1566) was an Italian Mathematician and Cartographer active in Venice during the early 16th century. He was also an alchemist, writing pseudonymously as Alessio Piemontese. Biography Girolamo Ruscelli was born in Vi ...

(Viterbo 1500 — Venice 1566),

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

. In a later work, Ruscelli reported that the ''Secreti'' contained the experimental results of an 'Academy of Secrets' that he and a group of humanists and noblemen founded in Naples in the 1540s. Ruscelli's academy is the first recorded example of an experimental scientific society.W. Eamon and F. Paheau, “The Accademia Segreta of Girolamo Ruscelli: A Sixteenth Century Italian Scientific Society,” ''Isis'' 75 (1984): 327 42 The academy was later imitated by

Giambattista Della Porta Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation. Giamb ...

, who founded an ‘Accademia dei Secreti’ in Naples in the 1560s.

Works

*
De' secreti del reuerendo donno Alessio Piemontese
', Venice, 1555 (Italian) ::--
1562 edition
::---
Les secrets de reverend Alexis Piémontois
', Anvers, 1557 (French) ::--- ''The Secretes of the Reverende Maister Alexis of Piermont'', 1558 (English, translated from the French version) ::---
Kunstbuch Des Wolerfarnen Herren Alexii Pedemontani/ von mancherleyen nutzlichen unnd bewerten Secreten oder Künsten
', 1616 (German)

References

External links

"Alessio Piemontese", ''The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'', p. 842, Longman, Brown, Green , and Longmans , 1842Les secrets dv seignevr Alexis Piemontois...
From th

in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

French Digital edition of ''The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont'' (1557)
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedemontanus, Alexius 1566 deaths 16th-century Italian physicians 16th-century Italian cartographers Year of birth unknown