DELLA PORTA, GIAMBATTISTA. - Playwright and polymath, b. in Naples in 1535, d. there on 4 February 1615. He occupied himself with magic, chemistry, mathematics and physics; he traveled widely in Italy, France and Spain. An accusation of witchcraft against him had no sequel because it was recognized as unfounded by the Inquisition; the Accademia dei Segreti, which he had founded in Naples, was instead suppressed. In 1590 he engaged in a public dispute with Tommaso Campanella.

Of his numerous works, the following are remembered: Magiae naturalis sive de miraculis rerum naturalium libri IV (Naples 1558), which had wide resonance; De furtivis literarum notis, vulgo de ziferis (ibid. 1563); De humana physiognomonia (Vico Equense 1586); De refractione, optices parte (Naples 1593); and the posthumous Della chiro-fisonomia (ibid. 1677). He also occupied himself with the theater, with 14 comedies, on Latin models, and the tragedy Giorgio (1611), on a sacred subject.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: F. Milano, Le commedie di G. B. D. P., in Studi della letteratura italiana, diretti da E. Percopo e N. Zingarelli, 2 (1900), pp. 311-411; F. Fiorentino, Sulla vita e le opere di G. B. D. P., in Studi e ritratti della Rinascenza, Bari 1911; B. Croce, Teatri di Napoli, 3rd ed., Bari 1927, ch. 4; G. Gabrieli, Bibl. di G. B. D. P., in Rendiconti dell'Acc. dei Lincei, 1932, pp. 206-77.

Giovanni Cecchini

@incollection{ec4_della_porta_giambattista, author = {Cecchini, Giovanni}, title = {Della Porta, giambattista}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1374}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/della-porta-giambattista} }

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Della Porta, Giambattista

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