It is a long review article of the book edited by Francesco Martelli. In 1682 Pietro Guerrini, an engineer employed by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, left Florence for a journey through northern Europe which lasted more than three years in order to investigate the techniques used there. Martelli publishes the letters and drawings that Guerrini sent periodically to Florence. In his review Villani shows how the study of Guerrini’s scientific mission might appear a kind of dichotomy between the desire of some sectors of the Tuscan elites to confront with “the industrial novelties of other nations” (“quanto le altre nazioni abbiano d’industrioso e di singolare”) and the inability that even a very able and intelligent observer as Guerrini had to fully understand the changes that were intervening in northern Europe. The fact that Guerrini in his letters commented often that in Tuscany they knew already some of the techniques used in Northern Europe without pointing out how was the different use of these techniques that changed them also qualitatively, is perhaps one of the most interesting themes that emerges from the reading of his letters.
Scheda su FRANCESCO MARTELLI (a cura di), Il viaggio in Europa di Pietro Guerrini (1682-1686). Edizione della corrispondenza e dei disegni di un inviato di Cosimo III dei Medici, Firenze Olschki, 2005
VILLANI, STEFANO
2007-01-01
Abstract
It is a long review article of the book edited by Francesco Martelli. In 1682 Pietro Guerrini, an engineer employed by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, left Florence for a journey through northern Europe which lasted more than three years in order to investigate the techniques used there. Martelli publishes the letters and drawings that Guerrini sent periodically to Florence. In his review Villani shows how the study of Guerrini’s scientific mission might appear a kind of dichotomy between the desire of some sectors of the Tuscan elites to confront with “the industrial novelties of other nations” (“quanto le altre nazioni abbiano d’industrioso e di singolare”) and the inability that even a very able and intelligent observer as Guerrini had to fully understand the changes that were intervening in northern Europe. The fact that Guerrini in his letters commented often that in Tuscany they knew already some of the techniques used in Northern Europe without pointing out how was the different use of these techniques that changed them also qualitatively, is perhaps one of the most interesting themes that emerges from the reading of his letters.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
