Maffei, Scipione

MAFFEI, SCIPIONE. - Scholar, polygraph, tragic poet, b. at Verona on June 1, 1675, d. there on Feb. 11, 1755. In 1710-50, with A. Zeno and A. Vallisnieri, he founded the Giornale dei letterati, accompanied by the Osservazioni letterarie (1737-40). He published the collection: Teatro italiano, ossia scelta di dodici tragedie per uso delle scene, premessa una storia del teatro e difesa di essa (Verona 1723). His tragedy Merope remained throughout the 18th century the model of Italian tragedy.

Of the many works, in which he treated the most varied subjects, the principal ones remain: Istoria diplomatica (Mantua [but, Verona] 1727), which marks a milestone in paleographic studies, because from the examination of manuscripts of the Capitular Library of Verona he drew the conviction that Latin scripts do not represent separate individualities, but are successive transformations of a single script, the Roman, manifesting itself in the three forms majuscule, minuscule and cursive; Verona illustrata (2 vols., Verona 1731-32), in four parts: history of Verona, literary history and notices of more than eight hundred Veronese writers from Catullus to Bianchini, the most important monuments, the amphitheaters in general and that of Verona in particular. A complement to this work may be considered the Museum Veronense (ibid. 1749); Istoria teologica delle dottrine e delle opinioni... (Trent 1742) against the Jansenists; Dell'impiego del denaro (Verona 1744) in favor of lending at interest.

Carlo Carletti