Dal XVIIe COLLOQUE INTERNATIONAL DE PALÉOGRAPHIE LATINE, Ljubljana, 7–10 septembre 2010, presentazione del progetto Autographa

Giovanna Murano

In the Chapel of the relics of the Basilica of Assisi and in that of the Cathedral of Spoleto are kept two of the oldest autographs known until now: they are in the hand of Francesco d'Assisi. But also san Bonaventura leaves evidence of his writing, and Tommaso d'Aquino, Matteo d'Acquasparta, Bernardino da Siena, sant'Antonino, Girolamo Savonarola. Besides those of saints and distinguished theologians, interesting graphic evidence of artists such as Beato Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Michelangelo, Giuliano da Sangallo, Pontormo, Leonardo, Benvenuto Cellini, etc, has survived. This report would submit the first results of a research on the surviving autographs of learned Italian men who lived between the Thirteenth century (period which dates back to the first certain autograph evidences) and the first half of the Sixteenth century. In this context we consider "autographs" only those works written by the same author at different stages, such as drafts, preliminary fair-copies with deletion and expansions, as well as dedication-copies and all those not written to be published such as notes, diaries and Zibaldoni. The corpus that provides for specimina of calligraphy of each author, does not only take into consideration the autographs of the literates (poets and writers) but also that of personalities from the world of science, academia and art.