Italian Wars of Culture

Edward Muir explores the culture wars predominant in Venice beginning with the 1591 Padua student riots against the Jesuits. The Catholic Papal Authority didn't extend to the independent Venice or it's University at Padua. The scholastic achievements were tremendous, because freedom of thought was not expunged as long as one remained in Venice. That was something Galileo learned the hard way.

It was a time of upheaval. Skepticism prevailed. Galileo Galilie and Cesare Cremonini are found in this story. Both taught at the University of Padua and both were considered to be celebrated thinkers of the day.

Muir brings much of Venetian society at that time into his writings. Whether it be the political and theological angst played out in Operettas such as The Celestial Divorce or the issues of limited marital options. The financial and social cost prohibiting marriage for many Venetians and forcing women into nunneries and men into libertine pursuits. These restrictions impacted Venetian society as a whole.

The story ends with the demise of the Venetian Accadenia degli Incogniti (Academy of the Unknowns) around 1660. Through the great art of conversation, ideas flowed. Cremonini had a profound influence on this group.

Muir ties the rapid ideas and events of this enchanting and dangerous time period together in The Culture Wars of the Late Renaissance. Don't overlook the few albeit important images included in the work.