Roman academies

Not to be confused with Rome Free Academy.

Roman academies were associations of learned individuals, rather than institutes for instruction. They were connected with larger educational structures conceived during and after the Italian Renaissance, at the height of which (from the 1418 end of the Western Schism to the mid-16th century) the two main intellectual centers were Florence and Rome. Scientific, literary, and artistic culture developed, with the earlier Roman and Florentine academies as examples.

History

The Renaissance

Bessarion's circle

Renaissance academies in Rome and Florence aimed to reproduce the traditions of Plato's Academy, promoting the cultivation of philosophy in the Ancient Greek sense of "love of wisdom" characterized by Renaissance Platonism and neoplatonism. was The home of Cardinal and Byzantine Greek exile Basilios Bessarion, one of several meeting places for scholarly events and discussion, was known as an academia (academy). Bessarion's extensive library, which he bequeathed to the city of Venice, was at the disposal of his many houseguests. His visitors included learned Greek refugees whom he supported by commissioning transcripts of Greek manuscripts and translations into Latin to make Greek scholarship available to Western Europeans.

Pomponio's Accademia Romana

Another circle of humanists has become known as the "Roman Academy" (Accademia Romana) of Pomponio. A thrifty humanist scholar who refused the customary patronage of rich cardinals, Pomponio Leto hosted a circle of friends who shared pagan-influenced humanism which was becoming characteristic of Renaissance Rome and elsewhere. Born in Teggiano in 1425 as Giulio Sanseverino, son of a Sanseverino nobleman, Pomponio devoted his energies in Rome to the study of classical antiquity and became the centre of a group of like-minded friends. Each assumed a classical name; his was Julius Pomponius Laetus, or Laetus. Prominent members were humanists with neo-pagan, epicurean interests, such as Bartolomeo Platina and Filippo Buonaccorsi. Rome was rife with political intrigue fomented by Roman barons and neighbouring princes, and Paul II (1464–71) arrested Pomponio and Academy leaders for irreligion, immorality, and conspiring against the pope. The prisoners were tortured, but eventually released.

16th and 17th centuries

The 16th-century Rome region had a number of generally short-lived literary and aesthetic circles ("academies") inspired by the Renaissance. They included Siena's theatrical Accademia degli Intronati; the 1530 Academy of the vignaiuoli (vine-growers); the Academy della virtù (1538), founded by Claudio Tolomei under the patronage of Ippolito de' Medici, and Academies of the intrepidi (1560), the animosi (1576) and the illuminati(1598). The Academy of Notti Vaticane (Vatican Nights) was founded by Charles Borromeo.

Seventeenth-century academies included the Accademia degli Umoristi, the Fantastici (1625) and the Ordinati, founded by Cardinal Dati and Giulio Strozzi. About 1700 were founded The academies of the Infecondi, the Occulti, the Deboli, the Aborigini, the Immobili, the Accademia Esquilina, and others were founded near the turn of the 18th century. The newer academies were public bodies (rather than a small circle of friends), modeled on the French Academy founded by Cardinal Richelieu.

18th and 19th centuries

After the French Revolution and the restoration to Rome of the papal government, new academies were founded and old ones revived. The Accademia di Religione Cattolica and the Accademia Tiberina were founded under Pope Pius VII (1800–23), and the Immacolata Concezione in 1835. The Accademia Liturgica was reestablished in 1840, followed by the Accademia dei (Nuovi) Lincei seven years later.

Selected academies

Accademia dei Lincei (1603)

Main article: Accademia dei Lincei

Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi (1690)

This literary academy was founded by Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni and Gian Vincenzo Gravina in memory of Queen Christina of Sweden, who abdicated the Swedish crown in 1654, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome, where she spent much of the rest of her life as an artistic and musical patron. The Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi was established after her death in 1689, with Christina its symbolic head. The academy existed for two hundred years.

Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia

Main article: Pontifical Academy of Archaeology

Accademia Filarmonica

The Accademia Filarmonica Romana was founded in 1821 for the study and practice of music.

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Main article: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia or Accademia di Musica derives from a school of music founded in 1570 by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Nanini that was in 1583 canonically designated by Gregory XIII as a confraternity, or congregation. The popes encouraged this organisation as an ideal instrument for the dissemination of good taste and the promotion of musical science. Urban VIII decreed that no musical works should be published without the permission of the censors of this congregation, and that no school of music or of singing should be opened in any church without the written permission of its deputies. This very rigorous ordinance provoked numerous complaints from interested parties, and its restrictions were soon more honoured in the breach than the observance. In 1684 Innocent XI allowed to the congregation the right to admit foreign members, and in 1774 women were admitted as members. Owing to the political troubles of the period, the congregation was suspended from 1799 to 1803, and again from 1809 to 1822. Among its members have been illustrious musicians. We may mention, besides the above-named founders, Carissimi; Frescobaldi, the organist; Giuseppe Tartini, violinist and author of a new system of harmony; and Muzio Clementi, pianist. From 1868 Giovanni Sgambati and Ettore Finelli taught without payment in this academy. Since 1870 the congregation of Santa Cecilia has been transformed into a Royal Academy. In 1876 the "Liceo di Musica" was added to it, with a substantial appropriation from the funds of the province and city of Rome. In 1874 the statutes of this school were remodelled. It is greatly esteemed and is much frequented (18, Via dei Greci).

Accademia di Raffaele Sanzio

This is a school of modern foundation, with daily and evening courses for the study of art (504, Corso Umberto I).

There are several foreign academies of a scholastic kind. The American Academy, founded in 1896, is located in the Villa del' Aurora (42, Via Lombardi). The Académie de France was founded by Louis XIV in 1666. This illustrious school has given many great artists to France. Its competitive prize (Prix de Rome) is very celebrated. It owns and occupies its own palace, the Villa Medici on the Pincio. The English Academy was founded in 1821, and possesses a notable library (53, B Via Margutta). The Accademia di Spagna was founded in 1881 (32, B Piazza San Pietro in Montorio). Finally, as formerly, there are now in Rome various associations which are true academies and may be classed as such, though they do not bear that name.

Societá di Conferenze di Sacra Archeologia

The Societá di Conferenze di Sacra Archeologia was founded in 1875 by Giambattista De Rossi, and is dedicated to archaeology. Its name is well merited, expressing as it does the active contributions of its members. At each conference are announced or illustrated new discoveries and important studies are presented. The meetings are held monthly from November to March and are open to the public. This excellent association has done much to popularize the study of Christian archaeology, especially the study of the Roman catacombs. Its proceedings are published annually in the "Nuovo Bulletino di Sacra Archeologia”, and its sessions are held in the palace of the Cancelleria Apostolica.

Circolo Giuridico di Roma

It was founded in 1899. Attached to it is the "Istituto di Diritto Romano" founded in 1887 for the promotion of the study of Roman law (307, Corso Umberto I).

Sources

• de Beer, Susanna (2008). "The Roman 'Academy' of Pomponio Leto: from an informal humanist network to the institution of a literary society". In Van Dixhoorn, Arjan; Sutch, Susie Speakman (eds.). The Reach of the Republic of Letters: Literary and Learned Societies in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Volume 168 of Brill's studies in intellectual history. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16955-5.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Roman Academies". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

• Database of Italian academies Archived 2009-02-10 at the Wayback Machine from the British Library
• The Italian academies 1525–1700 (a project)