Giovanni Nesi (philosopher)

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Start of a manuscript of Nesi's De moribus (1484), illuminated by Mariano del Buono [fr]

Giovanni Nesi (1456–1506) was a Florentine philosopher of the Renaissance.

Life

Nesi was born in Florence on 14 January 1456 to Francesco di Giovanni Nesi and Nera di Giovanni of the

Ugolino Verino's De illustratione Urbis Florentiae. Verino also dedicated an epigram to him, Ad Ioannem Nesium, quomodo a peccatis sit abstinendum.[1]

Nesi was a piagnone—a supporter of Girolamo Savonarola—and was actively involved in the Florentine Consulte e Pratiche. He served two terms as priore in May–June 1485 and January–February 1503 and two terms as one of the eight ufficiali of the Studio Fiorentino [it] in 1497 and 1499. From 11 July 1505 to 5 January 1506, he was podestà of Prato, where he reformed the local statutes.[1]

Nesi died at Florence between 15 November and 15 December 1506 and was buried in Santa Croce.[1]

Works

Nesi was at first, like his master, Acciaiuoli, an

Medici. After Savonarola's return to Florence in 1490, Nesi experienced a religious conversion.[2]

Sermons

Between 1472 and 1486, Nesi preached a series of sermons in

vernacular Tuscan before the lay confraternities of Florence [it].[3][4]

Books

De moribus (1484) is a dialogue in four books dedicated to

Filippo Valori, Bernardo di Alamanno de' Medici and Antonio Lanfredini. They are primarily concerned with good citizenship. The fourth book takes a Neoplatonic turn. In 1503, Nesi revised the work for publication, dedicating it to the youth of Florence. The revised version is found in manuscript 194 of the Burgerbibliothek of Bern, but it was never published.[1]

Oraculum de novo saeculo was published at Florence by

Giovanfrancesco Pico della Mirandola. Nesi describes a grand vision of things to come that Pico's uncle, Giovanni, then explains as revealing what Savonarola is building in Florence.[5]

In the Symbolum nesianum, Nesi explains to the Camaldolese friar Paolo Orlandini the imagery he used in the Oraculum.[3][6]

Nesi wrote two collections of poems, Canzoniere (1497–1498) and the incomplete Poema in terza rima (1499).[1][3]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-8-81200032-6
    .
  2. ^ Weinstein, Donald (1970). Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the Renaissance. Princeton University Press. pp. 192–205.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1007/978-3-319-14169-5_740
    .
  4. ^
    JSTOR 20676204
    .
  5. JSTOR 751506
    .
  6. ^ Celenza, Christopher S. (2001). Piety and Pythagoras in Renaissance Florence: The Symbolum Nesianum. Brill.
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