This one-day conference intends to investigate the status of universities in early modern Europe, with particular
references to Italian universities and their international relations. A Studium such as Padua was to all intents and
purposes a universitas scholarium, a legal corporation of scholars with its own statutes, which for a long time enjoyed a
degree of autonomy even in complex and mutable circumstances. It traditionally welcomed foreign students, and the
various nations enjoyed an independent status and could have representatives in the University’s executive council. The
conference explores the status of the institution and its bearing on the circulation of ideas and books. Anglo-Italian
relations are highlighted in the various papers, which discuss itinerant scholars, the statutes and rituals of Italian
universities, and the role of the universities in contemporary politics.
Conference organiser: Alessandra Petrina ([email protected])
9.30 – 13.00 – THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITY (chair: Alessandra Petrina)
Peter Denley, Queen Mary, University of London
“Medieval”, “Renaissance”, “Modern”: issues of periodization in Italian university history
Jonathan Davies, University of Warwick
Violence in early modern Italy: the academic context
David Rundle, University of Oxford
Beyond the classroom: international interest in the studia humanitatis in the university towns
of Quattrocento Italy
Robert Black, University of Leeds
Machiavelli at university: Marcello Virgilio Adriani and the Discorsi sopra la prima deca di
Tito Livio
Guido Giglioni, The Warburg Institute
Girolamo Cardano: university student and professor
15.00 – 18.00 – PADUA AND THE BRITISH INTELLECTUAL WORLD (chair: John Law)
Antonino Poppi, Università degli Studi di Padova
Teologia padovana e mondo anglosassone tra Quattro e Cinquecento
Elda Martellozzo Forin, Centro per la Storia dell’Università di Padova
L’anno padovano di Thomas Savage (1481– 1482)
Francesco Piovan, Centro per la Storia dell’Università di Padova
Autonomie imposte. La nascita della natio Scota giurista dello Studio di Padova (1534)
Elisa Cuttini, Università degli Studi di Padova
Human nature and habitus in the Aristotelian tradition: Giacomo Zabarella and John Case
Jonathan Woolfson, Lorenzo de’ Medici School, Florence
Padua and English students revisited