Naples in the eighteenth century was far from a peripheral outpost; it was a vibrant “European Laboratory” where scientific inquiry was inextricably linked to civil progress and international exchange. This volume offers a fresh and comprehensive re-evaluation of the Neapolitan Enlightenment, tracing its trajectory through the lives and works of its most influential protagonists.
From the intellectual authority of female scholars like Faustina Pignatelli and Maria Angela Ardinghelli, who acted as crucial mediators of Newtonian and Cartesian theories, to the groundbreaking anatomical and clinical discoveries of Domenico Cotugno and Francesco Serao, the collection reveals a scientific culture characterized by rigorous observation and global ambition.
The narrative extends beyond the city’s walls, exploring how Nicola Caputi’s provincial research and Sir William Hamilton’s visual codification of volcanology projected Neapolitan expertise onto a worldwide stage. The volume concludes by examining the tragic intersection of science and politics in the life of Domenico Cirillo and the unique epistemological resistance of Nicola Fergola’s geometric school.
By integrating history of medicine, natural philosophy, and mathematics, The Neapolitan Enlightenment illustrates how Naples became a central node in the Republic of Letters, renegotiating European models to produce a distinct form of “civil science” that challenged and shaped the foundations of modern knowledge.