èצӰÏñ

Speaker(s): Christopher Carlsmith, History (University of Massachusetts, Lowell)

This essay examines the efforts of schoolmaster Nicolò Cologno (c. 1511-1602) of Bergamo and bishop Cosimo Gheri (1513-1537) of Fano to provide pedagogy and pastoral care to those under their supervision, particularly in the years 1536-37 when they worked together. Both men received an excellent Classical education and both men were fervent in their desire to promote Catholic reform, albeit in different ways. The education of the bishop’s three younger siblings, together with that of several other noble boys, can be gleaned from correspondence to and from Cologno and Gheri in this period. Although he taught for more than 50 years and was ultimately appointed professor of moral philosophy at Padua, Cologno remains largely unknown. Gheri, on the other hand, came from a prominent family and corresponded regularly with the leading Italian intellectuals and ecclesiastical figures of his day: Pietro Bembo, Lodovico Beccadelli, Alvise Priuli, Giovanni Della Casa, and Carlo Gualteruzzi.

Christopher Carlsmith is Associate Professor of History at University of Massachusetts Lowell. His first book /A Renaissance Education: Schooling in Bergamo and the Venetian Republic, 1500-1650/ was published in 2010; a co-edited collection of essays in Italian was published in 2013. He was a Fellow at Villa I I Tatti in 2009-10 and an Italian Fulbright scholar in 1996-97. He is currently working on a study of student colleges at the University of Bologna between 1500-1800. His roots at èצӰÏñ run deep; his great-grandfather graduated in 1896, his parents were professors at èצӰÏñ for his entire childhood, he earned an A.B. in History in 1986, and he taught in the I-HUM Program in 2000.