FEDERICO CESI, THE FIRST ACADEMY, AND UMBRIA 11ers and would later represent the <strong>Academy</strong> as general procurator, alsotwenty six; and a foreigner, the twenty-four year old Jan Heckus <strong>of</strong>Deventer who, because <strong>of</strong> his Catholic faith, had fled the Netherlands ata very young age, lived for a time in Spoleto, and taken his degree inMe<strong>di</strong>cine in 1601 at the University <strong>of</strong> Perugia.The minutes <strong>of</strong> the first meetings contain the justification <strong>of</strong> thechoice <strong>of</strong> the name:Lyncaeam Academiam appellarunt ex Lince animalium omnium oculatissima.Cum enim in scientiis speculatione maxime opus sit ac sein mente vi prae<strong>di</strong>tos debere esse cognoscentes quae Linx in corporedotatus, eius Academiam nomine, et se ipsos in<strong>di</strong>gitarunt Lyncaeos. 3The Lynceans gave themselves an organizational structure and set forththeir program in a lengthy charter, the Lynceographum, never completeddespite successive drafts, and only recently published. 4The experience <strong>of</strong> the first <strong>Academy</strong> 5 is generally considered to haveended in 1657, the year that the Lyncean Cassiano del Pozzo <strong>di</strong>ed, and itsbrief history is usually <strong>di</strong>vided into three periods: the first goes from 1603 to1611, the year <strong>of</strong> induction <strong>of</strong> Galileo Galilei, and is marked by the group’sinitial enthusiasm as well as organizational and familial <strong>di</strong>fficulties; the secondlasted until 1630, the year <strong>of</strong> Cesi’s death, and can be said to representthe most fecund and most interesting period <strong>of</strong> the institution’s activity, byvirtue above all <strong>of</strong> the presence <strong>of</strong> the great Tuscan scientist; and finally, thelast period in which the <strong>Academy</strong> ceased to exist as an organized institutionbut continued as a scientific body, whose life, under the impulse <strong>of</strong> Stelluti,was much more protracted and which succeeded in 1651 in completing andpublishing the Tesoro messicano, the Lynceans’ great collegial opus.From the very beginning the activity <strong>of</strong> the members <strong>of</strong> the institutionwas conceived in terms <strong>of</strong> a fraternal collaboration with precisely definedscientific objectives, in ‘which each was to be master and <strong>di</strong>sciple <strong>of</strong> the others’,in such a way that ‘an authentic brotherhood, having <strong>di</strong>spelled all prideand envy, should be nourished by the increment in equivalent virtues’. 63 Gesta lynceorum, in Ms. Arch. Linc., 3, chap. 3.4 A. Nicolò (ed.), Lynceographum, quo norma stu<strong>di</strong>osae vitae lynceorum philosophorumexponitur, Roma 2001, hereinafter Lynceographum.5 We speak <strong>of</strong> First <strong>Academy</strong> because over the course <strong>of</strong> the centuries, thanks to theprestige acquired in its all too brief life by the <strong>Academy</strong> <strong>of</strong> Cesi and his companions, subsequentLyncean Academies were founded in various historical and cultural contexts.6 G. Gabrieli, Verbali delle adunanze e cronaca della prima Accademia Lincea, inContributi, vol. I, p. 508.
12FEDERICO CESI, LA PRIMA ACCADEMIA, L’UMBRIAcoglie la tensione morale e religiosa, ma anche culturale, che guidava iprimi passi <strong>di</strong> questa esperienza e che gli derivava, soprattutto, dall’entusiasmodel suo fondatore:“Federico Cesi [...] aveva della sua Accademia un’idea e un’affezionesingolarissima: l’aveva vagheggiata e concepita, sin da giovanetto,come un organismo <strong>di</strong> collaborazione e quasi cooperazionescientifica del tutto nuovo, una specie <strong>di</strong> ‘religione’ nel senso molteplicee specifico che allora si dava a questa parola: or<strong>di</strong>ne fra cenobiticoe cavalleresco, mirante e vivente all’acquisto del <strong>sapere</strong> scientifico,con consistenza e quasi regola tra Oratoriana e Filippina efamiliare. Gli Accademici erano per lui, dovevano considerarsi e<strong>di</strong>rsi ‘fratelli’ nel vero senso della parola: ed egli per primo ne daval’esempio, avendoli cari, usando per loro ogni gentilezza ed amorevolezza,adoperandosi per essi in ogni altro <strong>desiderio</strong> e bisogno, inogni necessità anche privata, economica, <strong>di</strong> sanità fisica, <strong>di</strong> sistemazionesociale, <strong>di</strong> collegialità”. 7Anche quando, nei primi mesi del 1604, le pressioni del padre <strong>di</strong>Federico e l’intervento del Sant’Uffizio provocano la <strong>di</strong>spersione dei giovaniLincei gli ideali dell’Accademia continuano a vivere; non verrà mai menoin questi giovani, specialmente <strong>di</strong>etro il continuo e appassionato sprone delCesi – il quale si de<strong>di</strong>ca con cura alla stesura delle “leggi, costituzioni e statuti”dell’Accademia –, il tenace attaccamento al primitivo progetto, a quell’ideale<strong>di</strong> “lincealità” che in<strong>di</strong>cava un comune modo <strong>di</strong> sentire e <strong>di</strong> intendere,un’analoga concezione della ricerca scientifica. Splen<strong>di</strong>da testimonianza<strong>di</strong> questo ritroviamo in una lettera, doverosamente inclusa nellapresente scelta antologica, che Cesi da Roma invia a Fabriano allo Stellutinel luglio del 1604, e nella quale egli incoraggia tutti i compagni, dando lorola sensazione che la bufera sarebbe presto passata, ed esalta i principi e gliobblighi della “lincealità”, vale a <strong>di</strong>re gli obblighi della probità morale, dellaricerca comunitaria, equamente <strong>di</strong>visa tra speculazione, resa vigorosa dallostrumento matematico, ed osservazione della natura. 8Non c’è dubbio poi che, a partire dal 1611, la partecipazione <strong>di</strong> Galileoalla comunità lincea dà agli ideali del Cesi, egregiamente espressi nella letteraallo Stelluti, un’impronta decisiva. Si può senz’altro parlare <strong>di</strong> un reci-7 G. Gabrieli, Ancora <strong>di</strong> Josse Ryke (Giusto Ricchio) panegirista e encomiatore ufficialedei Lincei defunti nella prima Accademia, in Contributi, vol. II, p. 1166.8 Cfr. Federico Cesi a Francesco Stelluti, Roma 17 luglio 1604, in Carteggio, pp. 36-41.
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