JOOMAG 9 | Page 11

ITALY

TOMMASO CAMPANELLA

BY ANDREEA, ANGELA, ELISA l.

Tommaso Campanella ( September 5, 1568 – May 21, 1639) , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella was an Italian philosopher , theologian , poet and astrologer . he was born in Stignano (in the town of Stilo) in the province of Reggio Calabria.

He was a prodigy child, son of a poor shoemaker , he entered in the Dominican order before the age of 15 , taking the name of Brother Thomas (in honor of Thomas Aquinas ) . He studied theology and philosophy with many different masters and in Naples he studied astrology.

Campanella’s heterodoxe ideas , especially his opposition to the authority of Aristotle, had brought him into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. Denounced to the Inquisition and cited in the Court of the Witches , was tried and sentenced to stay in the convent until 1597. Out from the convent , he was denounced by two of his followers conspirators , and later was captured and imprisoned in Naples , where he was tortured with the rack. Cripple and ill, he remained in prison 27 years in horrible conditions . During his imprisonment, he wrote his three most important works: The Monarchy of Spain, Metaphysics and The City of the Sun.

LA CITTA’ DEL SOLE (The city of the sun):

It ‘a work in form of a dialogue between a knight (cavalier) of the Hospitallers Order and a Genoese navigator, which describes the City of the Sun (island of Taprobana, at the equator). At the head of this city, there are reason and nature; applies the common property and where the women are in common. The work is collective, then no one is working too many hours per day; social activities are governed by the magistrates and the culture have a great importance. The Solari (is the name of the habitants of the city) practice public confession, which has a purpose detector in the city. There is religious tolerance: there must be only one religion; is not opposed to Christianity, in fact, is very similar and includes the Revelation.