A Greek Collection in Padua: The Library of Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535-1601)

Abstract

The name Gian Vincenzo Pinelli is hardly known today, even among specialists in the Italian Renaissance. This was not always so. Four hundred years ago every Italian intellectual and most non- Italian intellectuals would have responded to the name Pinelli with enthusiasm and appreciation, since he possessed one of the best, perhaps the best private library in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century. He not only collected books and manuscripts, he also put them at the disposal of serious readers. Moreover, he personally encouraged scholars in every imaginable field. Pinelli and his library deserve to be better known.