Apologia pro Galileo

The Apologia pro Galileo is one of the most important works by Tommaso Campanella and one of the key texts in the modern debate on the freedom of scientific research. Finished, probably, between the end of 1615 and the beginning of 1616, in the middle of the polemic on Copernican heliocentric system, it saw the light of day in Frankfurt in 1622, while its author was still imprisoned in Naples. In it Campanella supports the compatibility between traditional Christian truths and the new discoveries made by Galileo and, with generosity and heroism, he opposes the attempt to limit the freedom of scientific research in the name of the supremacy of Aristotelianism and theology. The debate on the Copernican system represents one of the most fascinating and dramatic chapters in the entire scientific revolution and with the Apologia Campanella becomes one of its major protagonist. The new text, edited by the eminent specialist Michel- Pierre Lerner, is enriched by a precise series of notes and accompanied by a full and learned Introduzione that reconstructs the history and fortune of the work, helping the reader to understand its complex structure.
It is followed by a clear Italian translation made by Germana Ernst.