FEDERICO CESI, THE FIRST ACADEMY, AND UMBRIA 17reminds Galilei that the underlying question is not whether all <strong>of</strong> theLyncean companions are ‘Copernicans’ but the effort to safeguard thefundamental principle for which the <strong>Academy</strong> had been born, ‘the freedomto philosophise in <strong>natural</strong>ibus’. 12In the summer <strong>of</strong> 1630, having completed his Dialogue on the TwoChief World Systems, Galileo <strong>natural</strong>ly decides to entrust it to the zealouscare <strong>of</strong> Cesi to obtain the ecclesiastical imprimatur and publish it underthe auspices <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Academy</strong>. But Cesi <strong>di</strong>es suddenly and prematurely on1 August <strong>of</strong> the same year. This painful event abruptly interrupts thatperiod <strong>of</strong> fervid activity <strong>of</strong> the Lynceans which had followed the election,in 1623, <strong>of</strong> Pope Barberini (Urban VIII). It seems very likely that Cesi’sdeath deprives Galileo <strong>of</strong> a decisive source <strong>of</strong> support, because during thedramatic events <strong>of</strong> 1633 the solidarity <strong>of</strong> the Lynceans withdraws into thebackground and, in the absence <strong>of</strong> the Prince, the old friendship withUrban VIII cannot save Galileo from the accusation <strong>of</strong> violating the prohibition<strong>of</strong> 1616, <strong>of</strong> not having taken account <strong>of</strong> the ‘precept’ <strong>of</strong> Car<strong>di</strong>nalBellarmino: ‘It is very probable’, writes Alessandrini,that if the ‘Dialogues’ had been published under the care and auspices<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Academy</strong>, if Federico Cesi had been able to handle thesituation with his influence and prestige, perhaps things mighthave gone <strong>di</strong>fferently. 13Cesi’s death, in fact, provokes the <strong>di</strong>ssolution <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Academy</strong> and putsan end to the brief parabola <strong>of</strong> its history as an organized institution.Francesco Stelluti, Cesi’s fraternal friend and ‘procurator’ <strong>of</strong> theLynceans, does the impossible to save at least the cultural patrimony <strong>of</strong>the <strong>Academy</strong>, the fruits <strong>of</strong> its intensive activity left in an unfinished state.He does his best to give some kind <strong>of</strong> order to Cesi’s notes prepared forworks left unfinished or just barely outlined. Above all, after having publishedunder Lyncean auspices a Treatise on Fossilized Mineral Wood, hedevotes himself and all his energies to completing the glorious publication<strong>of</strong> the so-called Tesoro messicano (Mexican Treasure), justly consid-12 Federico Cesi to Galileo Galilei, 7 March 1615, in Carteggio, p. 489. Helpful considerationson the attitude <strong>of</strong> the Lynceans toward the Copernican system are containe<strong>di</strong>n L. Conti, Francesco Stelluti, il copernicanesimo dei Lincei e la teoria galileiana dellemaree, in C. Vinti (ed.), Galileo e Copernico. Alle origini del pensiero scientifico moderno.Assisi 1990, pp. 141-236.13 A. Alessandrini, Originalità dell’Accademia dei Lincei, op. cit., p. 157; also cf. theinteresting observations <strong>of</strong> G. Olmi, op. cit., pp. 209-210.
18FEDERICO CESI, LA PRIMA ACCADEMIA, L’UMBRIAfrutto più esemplarmente in<strong>di</strong>cativo del lavoro collegiale e <strong>di</strong> ricerca deiLincei. L’e<strong>di</strong>zione definitiva <strong>di</strong> quest’opera monumentale vede la luce nel1651 ed è conclusa dalle Tabulae phytosophicae <strong>di</strong> Federico Cesi, primoabbozzo del Theatrum totius Naturae, cioè <strong>di</strong> quest’enciclope<strong>di</strong>a <strong>natural</strong>isticache era al centro del programma linceo ma che la scomparsa prematuradel Principe impedì <strong>di</strong> realizzare. 14Nel 1653 muore a Roma Stelluti l’ultimo dei quattro fondatoridell’Accademia, nel 1657 Cassiano dal Pozzo, una tra le figure più interessantidell’Accademia, che aveva acquistato, dopo la morte del Principe, maa titolo puramente privato, i libri e gli strumenti cesiani.Questi fuggevoli cenni che abbiamo de<strong>di</strong>cato alla breve storia dellaprima Accademia dei Lincei sono già in<strong>di</strong>cativi dell’impegno morale,intellettuale e pratico del suo fondatore e della originalità della istituzionecui volle dare vita in un momento complesso e cruciale per le sortidella cultura italiana ed europea in generale e della ricerca scientifica inmodo specifico.Non è certamente cosa facile dare un giu<strong>di</strong>zio equilibrato sul ruolo esercitatodall’Accademia dei Lincei nel rinnovamento che caratterizza la culturaitaliana ed europea agli inizi del Seicento. Certamente non con<strong>di</strong>vi<strong>di</strong>amoil giu<strong>di</strong>zio molto riduttivo <strong>di</strong> un Caverni o <strong>di</strong> un Gardair. 15Nel periodo in cui, come quello degli inizi del XVII secolo, fondareun’Accademia non era un evento eccezionale, e tra le moltissime Accademieche allora pullulavano in Italia la maggior parte erano prevalentementedecorative, esibizioniste, ciarliere, praticamente effimere e superficiali,“l’Accademia dei Lincei sorse come un fenomeno nuovo, nettamente<strong>di</strong>versa da tutte le altre, per originalità <strong>di</strong> impostazione e perserietà <strong>di</strong> impegno”. 1614 Rerum Me<strong>di</strong>carum Thesaurus Novae Hispaniae, Roma 1651. Sull’opera si veda: G.B.Marini-Bettòlo, Osservazioni e considerazioni sul Tesoro Messicano, in Aa.Vv., Convegnocelebrativo del IV centenario della nascita <strong>di</strong> Federico Cesi, cit., pp. 323-342; Id.,Un’enciclope<strong>di</strong>a <strong>di</strong> storia <strong>natural</strong>e del XVII secolo, in L. Conti (a cura <strong>di</strong>), Me<strong>di</strong>cina e biologianella rivoluzione scientifica, Assisi 1990, pp. 180-191. Notizie interessanti anche in A.Alessandrini, Francesco Stelluti e l’Accademia dei Lincei, in Aa.Vv., Francesco Stelluti linceo<strong>di</strong> Fabriano, Fabriano 1986, pp. 114-128.15 Cfr. R. Caverni, Storia del metodo sperimentale in Italia, Firenze 1891, vol. p. 1; J.-M.,Gardair, op. cit., passim.16 A. Alessandrini, Originalità dell’Accademia dei Lincei, cit., pp. 79-80.
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