I PARCHI LETTERARI® IN CALABRIA “JOURNEYS TO THE FUTURE OF MEMORY” - I PARCHI LETTERARI IN THE LOCRIDE AREA: TOMMASO CAMPANELLA

He was born in Stignano near Stilo, and was the son of an illiterate shoemaker. He entered the Domenican Order while still an adolescent with the name of Friar Thomas, in honour of St. Thomas Aquinas. He studied theology and Artistotelian philosophy with a variety of teachers. He was a disciple of Bernardino Telesio’s empirism. On several occasions he was subjected to trial by his order and by the Court of Inquisition. He was confined to a convent until 1597. After his liberation he returned to Calabria and he conspired against Spanish rule. He was betrayed by his companions and imprisoned in Naples. Feigning insanity, he was able to avoid the death penalty, but he was condemned to life in prison. He was released in 1626, thanks to Pope Urban VIII, who wanted him to act as an advisor for astrological issues.

Campanella wrote several works during the 27 years he spent in prison, the most famous among these: The City of the Sun. He took part in the first trial against Galileo Galilei with his courageous Apologia of Galileo (1616). However, in 1634, a new conspiracy in Calabria, instigated by one of one of his followers, resulted in more problems for him. He escaped to France, where he was benevolently welcomed at the court of Louis XIII, where he later died.