Loci critici e Naturalis Philosophia. Tra epistolari e biblioteche del Cinquecento

The library of the Paduan humanist and savant Gianvincenzo Pinel-li was a well-known meeting place for intellectuals, students of antiq-uity and philologists, for publishers and printers, and for philosophers and scientists. Through an exploration of the correspondence and pub-lished works of these figures, various aspects of Italian culture and its ties with the broader scientific and literary community across Europe in the Cinquecento will be reconstructed. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate how Pinelli’s collection of manuscripts contributed to the construction of a new form of knowledge.The learning of antiquity that was preserved and handed down through the codexes in Pinelli’s library fostered the activities of scholars f rom many backgrounds with different fields of interest, all of whom played a role during the last quarter of the sixteenth century in what was a crucial turning point in the intellectual history of Europe. Central to this discussion will be the intellectuals Bernardino Baldi, product of the illustrious tradition of mathematical studies in Urbino, and Antonio Persio, a disciple of Telesio and an assiduous promulgator of his works.