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On commute to the Vatican library
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I thought I'd write a short post of my source gathering trip few weeks ago. The trip focused on Italy, more precisely, to Rome, Florence and Siena. The original aim was to participate the final colloquium of the Lamemoli-project (Late Medieval and Early Modern Libraries 2017-2022) and present a paper there, but this trip grew to a full three week journey to various Italian libraries.
I spent the first week (20.2.-27.2.) in Rome, where I delved in the Vatican library. My aim was to finish my research on certain manuscripts, which was interrupted by covid-19 in February of 2020. I honestly got a lot of things done, measuring codices and counting quires. I even managed to inspect some new manuscripts such as Ott. Lat. 1440 and Ott. Lat. 1916, which are some later copies of Decades. The latter manuscript was especially fascinating, partly due to its huge size (430 x 240 mm, with over 400 leaves). Also in Rome I had the time to meet many friends, some residing in the Finnish Institute in Rome, and some were just conveniently on holiday in the Eternal City.
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The reading room of Biblioteca Riccardiana
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My second week (27.2.-6.3.) was spent in Florence. This time I was all alone with no colleagues or friends to share the dinner. However, I was overjoyed to be able to study in two magnificent libraries:
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and
Biblioteca Riccardiana. These two amazing libraries had both one copy of
Decades. In
Laurenziana I inspected a copy of the third decade (Conv. Soppr. 96), which seems to have been in the Abbey of Badia Fiorentina from the sixteenth century onward. In
Riccardiana I analysed a copy of the second decade (
Ricc. 760), which was possibly owned by an Italian humanist Cristofo Landino (1424-1498). At least his hand is present in the margins of the manuscript. After I was done with the manuscript, the librarian was kind enough to give me a tour of the library (it was a quiet day) and its amazing reading rooms. With no friends to talk to during dinners, I managed to eat an entire menu (antipasto, primo, secondo, dolce) one evening. This feat required a
digestivo, and luckily, I found a small cocktail bar, where they knew how to make an Old Fashioned! That really made my day.
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Narrow streets of Siena
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For the final week (6.3.-12.3.) I travelled to Siena, where I had not been before. It was a lovely town, not too large or too small. The chilly evenings surprised me, for the air in the narrow streets almost felt as cold as in Finland. Nevertheless, I managed to visit multiple times the
Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, where the only surviving manuscript copy of pope Pius II's abbreviation of
Decades (
Abbreviatio supra decades Blondi) was held. This manuscript (K. II. 12) was in a very poor condition and required subtle handling. In addition to the library trips, I participated in the final colloquium of the Lamemoli-project, where I presented my first live paper on the significance of pope Paul II's library in the dissemination of
Decades! Speaking to a live audience was great and nothing can really beat a live discussion after the presentation. There were many interesting papers in the colloquium, for example the one on the patronage of pope Nicholas V on Greek-to-Latin translations by Dr. Annet den Haan. In the evenings, it was lovely to discuss among colleagues on their papers over the course of long dinners.
After three weeks, even though I was overjoyed with the vicinity of beautiful manuscripts and Italian food, I was happy to finally return to Finland. Next I will have to go through and analyse the source material that I gathered.
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The view of Florence
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The inner courtyard of Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
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BML, Conv. Soppr. 96. A ms. copy of the third decade
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BML, Inc 3.2. A printed copy of the same third decade.
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