Memorabilia, Curiosities, and Notable Items
Bibliography:
MARINETTI, «Iscrizioni venetiche dalla Saccisica», in P. ZATTA (ed.), Archeology in Saccisica, Cleup, Padua 2008, pp. 23-26 [on two cobblestones with Paleo-Venetian inscriptions].
DAL PORTO, «La stele di Silvano e altre iscrizioni epigrafiche», pp. 72-73 pp. 72-73 [on the Stele of Caius Sattius].
ROSSI, «Una sepoltura romana dal territorio di Monselice nella Biblioteca Antica del Seminario Vescovile di Padova», in Quaderni di Archeologia del Veneto 26 (2010), pp. 127-131.
Francesca PRANDINI, Le lucerne della collezione archeologica della Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile di Padova. Master’s thesis. Master’s Degree Course in Archaeological Sciences. Supervisor: Monica Salvadori. University of Padua. A.Y. 2018-2019.
On the occasion of the bicentennial of the death of the Paduan cartographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni, the Library of the Seminary has prepared the digital reproduction of his letters to Giuseppe Toaldo and other documents related to his life.
For an overview of the digitized documents: click here
To access the Dropbox folder with reproductions of the documents: click here.
G.A. Rizzi Zannoni (from B. GAMBA, Galleria dei Letterati ed Artisti Illustri delle Provincie Veneziane nel Diciottesimo secolo, Venice, printed by Alvisopoli, 1824).
For the presentation of the documents, see:
BATTOCCHIO, Lettere di Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni nella biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, in G. GULLINO – V. VALERIO (eds.), Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni: Scientist of 18th Century Veneto, Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters, and Arts, Venice 2015, pp. 135-142.
The volume collects the proceedings of a conference that took place in Venice on May 15 and 16, 2014: click here
Video of the presentation by Riccardo Battocchio, Director of the Library, at the Venetian conference: click here.
The Library of the Seminary has been part of the National Committee for the celebrations of the bicentennial of Rizzi Zannoni’s death.
In June 2015, the restoration of a celestial globe by the astronomer Joseph-Jérôme De La Lande and a terrestrial globe by the cartographer Rigobert Bonne was completed. These globes were made in Paris in 1775 and 1778, respectively. The restoration was overseen by Viviana Molinari (Brescia).
Report on the Restoration of the Celestial Globe and the Terrestrial Globe
Cod. 357 of the Library of the Seminary consists of the autograph of a letter that Francesco Petrarca wrote from Arquà to the Paduan physician Giovanni Dondi Dall’Orologio on July 13, 1370 (Seniles XII, 1: “Obtulisti michi materiam iocandi”).
To read the original Latin text, click here
To read the Italian translation, click here
The Library of the Seminary houses a copy of Dialogo di Galileo Galilei Matematico Straordinario dello Studio di Pisa e Filosofo e Matematico Primario del Serenissimo Gr. Duca di Toscana, where, in the conferences of four days, the two Major Systems of the World, Ptolemaic and Copernican, are discussed, presenting indeterminately the philosophical and natural reasons for both sides. Florence, for Gio. Batista Landini, 1632. This copy has been annotated with notes and corrections by Galileo Galilei himself (= Cod. 352).
The book was most likely gifted by the Pisan scientist’s grandson, Cosimo Galilei, to Gregorio Barbarigo, who had employed him as a secretary when he was bishop in Bergamo (1658).
A facsimile of this copy was published by the Olschki publisher in 1999: click here
For the history of the copy, see C. Bellinati (1982) and M. Restiglian (1982).
A critical edition of the Dialogo and commentary edited by Ottavio Besomi (1998), click here
For the content and meaning of the Dialogo sopra i Massimi Sistemi del Mondo, click here
From 2006 to 2011, thanks to financial support from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, in collaboration with the Superintendency for Library Heritage of the Veneto Region, 55 copies of 16th-century printed books were restored. The work was carried out by Viviana Molinari – Gavardo BS (38 volumes), Stefania Moretto – Mussolente VI (11 volumes), and Studio Res by Melania Zanetti – Padua (6 volumes).
In 2009, the restoration of manuscript Cod. 29, created for the Sienese physician Alessandro Sermoneta (1423-1487), was completed. The manuscript contains the vernacular version of Ovid’s Heroides and the pseudo-Ovidian Pulce, along with Goro Dati’s Sfera, accompanied by numerous geographical illustrations. Thanks to the “Salviamo un Codice” project, this manuscript, copied and decorated in a Tuscan environment probably during the third quarter of the 15th century, underwent delicate conservation work by Melania Zanetti (Studio Res), restoring its full integrity. A restoration report edited by Leonardo Granata was published: Carte scoperte, Il Prato, Saonara (Pd) 2009.
In 2015, two additional manuscripts were restored by Melania Zanetti (Studio Res), again with the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo: (Cod. 45: Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, 15th century; Cod. 179: Congeries remediorum ad plurimos morbos curandos, 15th century) and a beautifully illuminated membranous incunabulum (Forc.K.1.12: Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis, Ed. Johannes Andreas, Nicolaus Jenson, Venice 1472).
Of all these restorations, the Library preserves a detailed description of the interventions, photographic documentation, and residual materials.
In 2018, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the death of Egidio Forcellini (Fener, August 26, 1688 – April 5, 1768), whose name is associated with one of the works that made the Seminary of Padua famous: the Lexicon totius latinitatis.
Between autumn 2017 and spring 2018, the Library offers several guided tours during which it will be possible to observe the preparatory materials and the various editions of the Lexicon, from the first edition of 1771 (actually 1772) to the edition of 1940 (reproduced anastatically in 1955).
Portrait of Egidio Forcellini at the age of 63 (1751)
* G. BIANCO, Egidio Forcellini, dal Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 48 (1997): click here.
* [G. BELLINI], Le cinque edizioni padovane del Lexicon totius Latinitatis di Egidio Forcellini, Gregoriana Editrice, Padova 1942.
* A. DAL ZOTTO, De forcelliniani lexici origine altero ab auctoris obitu saeculo elapso, in Latinitas 17 (1969) 171-184.
* PARROCCHIA DI S. ULDERICO – CAMPO DI ALANO, III Centenario della nascita del sommo lessicista Egidio Forcellini, 1988.
* To consult the Lexicon totius latinitatis online:
– 1805 Edition: click here.
– 1940 Edition: click here.
Initiatives for the 250th anniversary of the death of Egidio Forcellini: click here
Among the many historiographical works undertaken—though not always completed—by Abbot Giovanni Brunacci (1711-1772) stands out the Paduan Diplomatic Code: five volumes in which he transcribed a vast number of documents related to the history of Padua and the surrounding area. The organization of the volumes is attributed to Abbot Antonio Comin, archivist and librarian of the Capitol Library of Padua at the beginning of the 19th century.
It is possible to consult the five volumes of the Paduan Diplomatic Code online through the Phaidra platform – Digital Collections of the University of Padua:
Cod. 581.1 = Volume I
Cod. 581.2 = Volume II
Cod. 581.3 = Volume III
Cod. 581.4 = Volume IV
Cod. 581.5 = Volume V = Indexes
* Information on how to use the indexes contained in Volume V: click here
About Abbot Giovanni Brunacci:
M. ZORZATO, Brunacci, Giovanni, DBI 14 (1972).
A. RIGON – F. ROSSETTO (cur.), Giovanni Brunacci tra erudizione e storia. Nel III centenario della nascita (1711-2011), Il Poligrafo, Padova 2014.