Aprosio Angelico

Aprosio, Angelico (Ludovico by that century) was born on 29-X-1607 in Ventimiglia: his parents, Mark and Petronilla, belonged to two branches of the roman imperial strain of origin Aprosio. After the death of his brother Benjamin, he remained the only male child and his parents asked him to apply to the studies of law or medicine. The child chose to wear the clothes of the Eremitani of S. Augustine and entered the convent following this order (March 19, 1623). His father, as a sign of non solved contrasts, accompanied him to Genoa to make the novitiate in the convent of the Consolazione. Having the name of the religious Angelico, he spent in the Ligurian capital the year of novitiate remaining there until 1626. Soon he revealed a certain impatience in staying in the same place for too long and after having won the objections of his superiors, he took residence in Tuscany, Siena, at the Convent of St. Augustine. The stay in Siena was important for the formation of Aprosio. Apart from the friendships that he contracted (with Hannibal Lomeri, Francesco Buoninsegni and Jerome Ubaldino Malavolti) in this city, Angelico matured the cultural choice for GB Marino, around whose poem Adone, he would then built part of its aesthetic views. The intellectual assault to five thousand rooms relating to the cases of the “Unhappy lover of Venus” was not only an interminable effort. For Father Aprosio the vast poem of Marino, written in a century full of love and hatred, represented a model of culture, a culture that that particular language and frustrating erudition were taking away from any people’s fruition to transform it into a privilege of his caste. To this point it is symptomatic that Aprosio, always in Siena, entered into contact with the accademism that often and willingly, was combined with marinism and which, unavoidably, brought forward a judgement aristocratic judgement of what was poetic and critical, becoming erudite. At this point, it can be easily understood how he became a friend of Alcibiades Lucarini, professor of law, founder of the Accademia degli Uniti and, in Salerno, of the Accademia degli Occulti: thanks to Lucarini Aprosio was also introduced to the Accademia degli Intronati. In Siena (1628), Angelico, among the library shelves of Gian Paolo Ardoi, managed to read the “Occhiale” by Tommaso Stigliani, the notorious “libercolo” in which the poet and critic of Matera had gathered several critical remarks of the Adone. The script of Stigliani caused heated and contrasting reactions in Siena, but Luca Simoncini, the only local expert who tried to give a critical answer, ended up by being considered ridiculous by the official culture. Aprosio, aware of his inexperience, did not dear to venture himself into some dispute with the more experienced colleague Pugliese; he patiently waited instead to receive the “Occhiale appannato”, a work with which the mariniste Scipione Errico was gathering fame in the academies and that was sent to Aprosio from Florence by F. Jerome of Ripa, Caprodosso. Once he received the book he immediately addressed a cordial and adulatorial letter which saw its first affectionate response from Errico dated Messina, July 15 1630: that was the beginning of an intellectual friendship that lasted fourty years and that ended only in 1670, with the death of Sicilian poet. Inspired by his friend Errico, Angelico wrote then his first true opera, The Poetic Sferza (against the Stigliani!), that could not be published by the Florentine printer Christopher Tomasini, due to the plague brought by the Lanzi’s in 1629 -30. At the age of almost 23 years old, Angelico joined the Ufficio del Lettore in Monte S. Savino, Siena, where he began his friendship with Pier Francesco Minozzi, a bizarre man of culture, who taught him the mysteries of scriptures encrypted gematric, alphanumeric and cabalistic codes. In 1634, wishing to see again his homeland, he left Tuscany and returned to Genoa to live there until 1637. Back to Genoa, he started an intimate friendship with the future Doge Alessandro Spinola, attended the Accademia degli Addormentati, introduced Minozzi to Anton Giulio Brignole Sale, inaugurating in this way its editorial activities by following up, at Carlo Ferrandi, merchant of books, expenses, the printing of the Libidini dell’Ingegno, which were speeches of various erudition written and recited in the Genoese academy. The religious order to which he belonged did not like these unusual behaviour and, to bring him back to a more peaceful life, tried to assign him administrative functions, but Angelico, still attracted by the frenzy to travel and learn, did not even accept the prestigious post of Prior of the Convent of St. Nicola di Chiavari, and got again the permission to leave Genoa. We went then to Pisa where he joined the religious brother Nicola Campiglia who after leaving the control of the Study of St. John of Carbonara in Naples, was moving to a new position in the town of Treviso. The journey of the two religious men was very unhappy though, tormented by bad weather and terrible stays in taverns frequented by delinquency: despite all these events, they safely arrived in Treviso (July 7 1637), where Angelico received an excellent hospitality in the Convent of St. Margaret, where he lived for two years, deeply devoted to studies, and where he published (1637) in limited numbers of copies, the Vaglio Critico of Masoto Galistoni (his pseudonym) based on the Nuovo Mondo of T. Stigliani. The young scholar, which moves severe criticism of the stiglianeous poem Nuovo Mondo, was still very insecure about himself after the renaissance season and the Spanish influence that was giving to the Italian society ideological connotations of provincialism and a propensity towards that syncretism of compromise that would have devoured free talents and the just emerging ones: already good expert of the facts of life and convinced that in Italy, for any writer or public figure, was equally necessary to do and to appear, Aprosio had his stroke of genius and convinced the small printer Treviso Righettini to replace his name, in front of the volume, with an exotic name, that of Wallop publisher in Rostock, to effect a very, very estimated audience between the whispers and the cries of the Italian academies. This was his first step to become, almost from scratch, a cultural promoter, a seller of the knowing, always mixed well to the intellectual needs from time to time required by the privileged classes and he succeeded with his brilliant idea: that name in fact lit extravagant curiosity and became a new opportunity for other correspondeces ... even the Stigliani remained hesitant. In May 1639 the intemelian friar found new occasions to travel, accompanying to Feltre, where he had been transferred, the friend Jacopo Venza, former Prior of S. Margherita: the new residence was not up to his expectations, especially for the unhealthy climate, and he left it at his first occasion, on July 30 of that same year. Once again he followed the Venza, who was appointed for an unexpected decision of his superiors,to the office of General Vicar of the Congregation of Dalmatia, the island of Hvar. In the company of Paul Benzoni, noble Venetian castle man and camerlengo of Lesina, the two augustinians, after a stop in Rovinj in Istria, reached the island on August 4, 1639 and found it at an almost no civilized level, with lack comfort, populated by people that were too dedicated to libations so that Aprosio left it soon, December 10, embarking on a ship called Marciliana of Chioggia that docked in Venice, after twelve days of travel, at the gates of the Convent of St. Stephen, where he spent the holidays until the first days of January. After having refused the hospitality of the Venician Papal Nuncio Msgr. Calves, Aprosio soon moved to the monastery of St. Christopher of the Congregation of St. Ortone; he also went away from here in the lent of 1640 to preach in Treviso. Once done with his obligations, he did not return any more to Merano but reached Chioggia, whose convent was miserable but good to achieve its purposes that were closer to those of Venice, whose attraction worldwide and culturally was becoming stronger and stronger towards him. Even in Chioggia he was busier with letters than with prayers, got the chance to have deeper cultural contacts with the Venetian scholars Loredano and Michiele, as well as with the printer Sarzina and with the Spanish friar Peter Romero, whose work Venetia Evierna by the Sarzina, was followed up by Aprosio in 1641 with an excellent first edition. But the step towards Venice was made by Aprosio after Easter that year thanks to the prior of St. Stefano Leonardo Oca. The event did record some setback and also the prior Verona did not like that escape from Chioggia: the same Oca was surprised about the behaviour of that strange “quirk” of Ventimiglia (this is how many people were used to call Angelico), and thought that those who were calling him “weird spirit” were right. To avoid accidents Aprosio remained quiet for a bit: once the situation was calm again, he started to go out of the Convent to travel to teach law to the noble Venetian young men: the frequency of the patrician houses gave him the opportunity to get in touch with important personalities of politics, culture and religion. Slowly he tasted the delights of a life always open to human contact and became an habitual guest of literary salons, where he gave proof of his elegant art of speech and could read the key parts of his works. Venice became in his eyes the port of the Ideal, the best address for his aging and to his success. The lagoon city, queen, only a little lapsed,hometown of the art of printing, yet node of the European culture, important center for social and commercial life, won his full attention until 1647, during a stay that was so happy that could be then regret. Here he made rewarding friendships with many writers who were attached to the libertine Academy of the Incogniti, which for some thirty years (1630-1660) had gathered around the noble John Francis Loredano. In this environment Aprosio improved his talents, organizing in a more concrete and linear way both his erudite interests and his literary production: he also intensified the panorama of his correspondents including Lelio Mancini, Gaspare Scioppio, Leone Allacci and Jacopo Tommasini. But the more significant meeting was the one with the Venetian typographic tradition; Angelico soon started to assiduously frequent the important printing office of Matthew and John Vecellio Leni gaining familiarity with the most famous booksellers or publishers of cities like Sarzina, Combi, the Hertz , Ginamni, Pavone, Valvasense and that John Guerigli who gave him precious Italian and foreign books that became then the nucleus of the Aprosiana Library. The attendance of the Academic Incogniti, where all participants could discuss in freedom of banned topics, including certain sexual and intellectual licensing, influenced the formation of the intemelian agostinian. During several meetings he approached the cultural taste of erotic and entered various, delicate debates on that world of the femininity that was for him so mysterious and fascinating: in this universe of knowledge, imbued with misogenous tones, he was led by Loredano and Scipione Errico, who arrived in Venice in 1643: the choice of an antifemminismo that Aprosio however decided was suggested to him by the case of P. Michiele, Incognito and the author of l’Arte degli Amanti (Lover’s Art), which Aprosio, in an unexpected visit (1643), found in his castle of Pieve di Cadore, lost slave of love ... in the hands of what in his Poems he called Woman , whose real name was Apollonia, born in Ferrara .... Thus, a bit for nature but above all to please the privileged classes, the Augustinian started to talk and write against the women, particularly against those women whose behaviour was “little”, or to be clear, against all whores, concubine and the poor ones: in fact he just wanted to inspire wonder and did not wish to damage or stir up controversy ... the women were in his case a very convenient target for his iridescent pen who knew how to leave naked, with the pitiful excuse of a moralist, the very vicious Veneto province. Since he thought to be protected by his condition as religious, Aprosio ended up a little too sure and did not know that he was going to give account of his actions to a Venetian religious sister whose name was Angela Tarabotti, who, for his misfortune was a woman that was forced to enter the convent for crude family laws and who now seemed to want to find her revenge against males and what they were saying about sex following a stereotyped well encoded Malleus Maleficarum, like in the Bible of hunters Demons and Witches. The story had its beginning and also its way forward. Originally Angelico and Tarabotti did not disagree with each other, she even sought for his advice and opinions ..... but became antagonists only when she successfully criticized the Satire against women by F. Buoninsegni, Tuscan friend of Ventimiglia, who felt an obligation to intervene in his favor, composing the “antifemaled” Discovered Mask of Filofilo Misoponero in response to the antisatire DAT written against the Satire written by Francesco Buoninsegni. But this job (1645) never surpassed the status of manuscript (only recently it was published by E. Biga) as the Tarabotti managed to prevent the publication, already agreed with the editor Valvasense. Such disappointment made things worse with the Ventimiglia already convinced of how bestial and vindictive women can be, pulling out an even stronger part of his anger, often Misoginia, that he calmed down only by writing a spicy and “antifemaled” Lo Scudo di Rinaldo (The Shield of Rinaldo) under the pseudonym of Scipio Glareano in Venice in 1646 for the publishing house Hertz, against females, but especially those ones intelligent or astute. Aprosio then had a meeting in Venice which was going to be important for his future, that with the Genoese noble Giuliano Spinola who wanted to take him along as a tutor for his child, , but urging him to return to Genoa. Aprosio remained for a little hesitant because he had to follow the printing, by the Venetian Leni and Vecellio of the Part II of his Veratro, work that would have been placed amongst the critical friar’s “filomarinistic” writings. When Giuliano Spinola, at his own expenses quickly helped that typeset work finish, Aprosio no further made any objection: even to treat the malaria, contracted in Dalmatia, he was beginning to feel the need of the beautiful Ligurian climate. At first he had to send to Genoa the thirty boxes of books put together: that year, 1647, he had to travel to Ljubljana, to preach the Lent, guest of Frederick Otto of the Counts of Buchaim, Bishop of the Diocese. Once done with all commitments Angelico returned one last time in Venice, from where, he greeted his friends, embarked the “postiglione” to Ferrara where he remained for a few days with Cardinal Dongo: the accompanying servant, taken for little money from Ljubljana, was following him from town to town to revisit old friends here and there. After having reached the Spinola in Piacenza, his friend Ventimiglia proposed an old dream of his, to travel to Naples and visit the beautiful Sebeto described by Marino: the anti-Spanish revolt of Masaniello and the disappearance of Spinola made them desist, causing their immediate return to Liguria. He reached Rapallo, where the boxes of books were received and brought them to Genoa meaning to donate them to the local Convento della Consolazione: between thoughts and vicissitudes in the end, however, he managed to settle the library in Ventimiglia, where, with the exception of certain travels for sermons to accomplish some religious duties in Genoa shortly after the mid-century, he spent the rest of his life engaged in extensive letters’ correspondence (the letters of its correspondents are in the Aprosiano University Library Fund of Genoa): in Bologna, in 1673 by the Manolessi with the little original title of The Aprosiana Library …hobby…of Cornelius Aspasio Antivigilmi, i.e. Aprosio) who partly published the catalogue, with an infinite number of news learned of his books’ collection. Natural shaker of culture, promoter of library meetings he passed the last years almost exclusively dedicated to the care of the Library and the drawing of the epistolario: with a fame that did not decrease even if undoubtedly the distance of his friend Ventimiglia from him, represented a limit to want to continue to travel and to know . In recent years what gave him much consolation was the presence of Domenico Antonio Gandolfo, that he prepared to be his successor to the direction of the Aprosiana: which, in fact even if not formally, was what occurred even before February 1681 when Aprosio, tired and plagued by the malaria , closed his earthly existence now troubled by periodical serious illnesses.