In the previous post I addressed the complex topic of Humanism, and how we badly need to reclaim it to avoid sliding into a technocratic society. I listed Desiderius Erasmus as the most prominent humanist of the Renaissance and undisputed leader of the Respublica Literaria, or “Republic of Letters,” a massive network that transcended national borders and nurtured the intellectual and spiritual growth of the humanist movement. The printing press greatly contributed to the development of that humanist network of ideas. The European capital of printing at the time of Erasmus was Venice, and the most prestigious and influential publishing house in Venice was the Aldine Press, named after its founder Aldus Manutius. 

He was born Teobaldo Manucci in Bassiano, a small town on the Apennines Mountains, around 40 miles south of Rome, sometime between 1449 and 1452. Bassiano was then part of the Papal States, and when he was still a teenager Aldo left Bassiano to pursue humanistic studies in Rome. While Latin was the universal language of the intellectual elite (and of the Church), the study of Greek was much less common; Aldo, however, had the rare opportunity to master both languages during his studies at the universities of Rome and Ferrara.  

When he later started his own printing press in Venice, Aldo spearheaded the diffusion of major works by Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, and Euripides. He was the first to turn books into portable objects by inventing the octavo format, a practical innovation that suited the needs of an ever-expanding readership; he also created the Italic type to maximize the number of words that could fit in his pocket books. Besides these inventions, in Venice Manutius founded the Neacademia (New Academy), an association of intellectuals that operated directly out of Aldus' printing house. Its members were required to speak only classical Greek, and each of them adopted a Greek pseudonym. Erasmus lived at the Academy for about eight months in 1508 and was greatly impressed by the whole operation; he famously stated that Aldus was building a library with “no walls but the world itself.” 

The tight collaboration between Erasmus and Aldus produced a bestselling masterwork, the Adagiorum Chiliades ("Thousands of Adages"). By gathering obscure ancient proverbs, interpreting and translating them into common formats, Erasmus and Aldus shaped the writing and speaking conventions of generations of learned Europeans. The Adagia became the standard textbook used across the continent to teach Latin and Greek style, and provided a trove of classical idioms, quickly searchable and easy to reference. The proverbs gave Erasmus a chance to take a stand on many political and religious issues of his time. In his commentaries he attacked the corruption of the clergy and openly questioned the privilege of the aristocracy, including princes and kings. This work would later become a political tool used by Protestant reformers to break away from the Catholic Church. Eventually the book was banned and Erasmus was accused of heresy… But that's another story. 

Aldo's banner, a dolphin wrapped around an anchor, appeared on every work published by Aldine Press. It was an illustration of a famous Latin adage, Festina lente, which means “Make haste slowly.” The oxymoron embodied his editorial philosophy: printing vast amounts of works at industrial speed (like a dolphin surfing through the waves) while grounded (anchored) in the thorough research and painstaking review that were needed to keep his volumes error-free. 

The town of Bassiano is rightly proud of its former resident, and his iconic banner appears all over the town. If you were to visit the inn “La Bella Lisa”, for example, you would see the dolphin + anchor reproduced on the pavement of the outdoor theater. It is a bit hard to spot in the picture below…

Disclaimer: the inn is proudly managed by my aunt, and was built by my uncle Scipione Salvagni in the 1980s. As you can see from the picture above, it integrates seamlessly with the surrounding karst topography. Some of the caves are used to chill wine!