The Renaissance Bessarion's circle Renaissance academies in Rome and Florence aimed to reproduce the traditions of
Plato's Academy, promoting the cultivation of
philosophy in the
Ancient Greek sense of "love of wisdom" characterized by
Renaissance Platonism and
neoplatonism. was The home of
Cardinal and
Byzantine Greek exile
Basilios Bessarion, one of several meeting places for scholarly events and discussion, was known as an
academia (academy). Bessarion's extensive library, which he bequeathed to the city of
Venice, was at the disposal of his many houseguests. His visitors included learned Greek refugees whom he supported by commissioning transcripts of Greek manuscripts and translations into Latin to make Greek scholarship available to Western Europeans.
Pomponio's Accademia Romana Another circle of humanists has become known as the "Roman Academy" (
Accademia Romana) of
Pomponio. A thrifty humanist scholar who refused the customary patronage of rich cardinals, Pomponio Leto hosted a circle of friends who shared
pagan-influenced humanism which was becoming characteristic of Renaissance Rome and elsewhere. Born in
Teggiano in 1425 as Giulio Sanseverino, son of a
Sanseverino nobleman, Pomponio devoted his energies in Rome to the study of classical antiquity and became the centre of a group of like-minded friends. Each assumed a classical name; his was Julius Pomponius Laetus, or Laetus. Prominent members were humanists with
neo-pagan,
epicurean interests, such as
Bartolomeo Platina and
Filippo Buonaccorsi. Rome was rife with political intrigue fomented by Roman barons and neighbouring princes, and
Paul II (1464–71) arrested Pomponio and Academy leaders for irreligion, immorality, and conspiring against the pope. The prisoners were tortured, but eventually released.
16th and 17th centuries The 16th-century region of Rome had many generally short-lived literary and aesthetic circles ("academies") inspired by the Renaissance. They included
Siena's theatrical
Accademia degli Intronati; the 1530 Academy of the
vignaiuoli (vine-growers); the Academy
della virtù (1538), founded by
Claudio Tolomei under the patronage of
Ippolito de' Medici, and Academies of the
intrepidi (1560), the
animosi (1576) and the
illuminati(1598). The Academy of Notti Vaticane (Vatican Nights) was founded by
Charles Borromeo. Seventeenth-century academies included the
Accademia degli Umoristi, the Fantastici (1625) and the Ordinati, founded by Cardinal Dati and
Giulio Strozzi. The academies of the Infecondi, the Occulti, the Deboli, the Aborigini, the Immobili, the Accademia Esquilina, and others were founded near the turn of the 18th century. The newer academies were public bodies (rather than a small circle of friends), modeled on the
French Academy founded by
Cardinal Richelieu.
18th and 19th centuries After the
French Revolution and the restoration to Rome of the papal government, new academies were founded and old ones revived. The Accademia di Religione Cattolica and the Accademia Tiberina were founded under
Pope Pius VII (1800–23), and the Immacolata Concezione in 1835. The Accademia Liturgica was reestablished in 1840, followed by the Accademia dei (Nuovi) Lincei seven years later. ==Selected academies==