Domenico Pizzimenti

Doctor, philosopher and man of letters from Vibo, he built a rich library and founded a humanist academy in Vibo

Native of Vibo Valentia, he was a doctor, philosopher and refined scholar of Latin and Greek literature, as well as a collector of manuscripts. His rich library, with its heterogeneous character, represented a common trend in the cultural climate of the Italian Renaissance, and constituted, with his autographs, some of the last evidence of Greek handwriting. Linked to the humanist bishop Antonio Minturno and to the Manutius of Venice, Pizzimenti was the translator, among other things, of the famous Treatise on the Sublime. He lived for some time in Naples and then in Padua, Florence, Rome and Venice. After traveling a long time he returned to Vibo Valentia to practice as a doctor, without however abandoning his literary activity. He founded the Academy of the Inconstantis Ipponese together with some humanist friends. The choice of the ducal castle as the venue for the meetings is indicative of a concerted cultural policy among the main actors of the Vibo area and certainly constitutes an element of great interest in the Pignatelli government, the lords of Monteleone.