Linnaeus in Italy: The Spread of a Revolution in Science

Beretta, Marco, and Alessandro Tosi, eds., 2007, xxiii + 340pp., illus., clothbound hardcover, jacketed   With the coexistence of such contrasting and highly differentiated cultural and political currents in a territory linked—albeit in a somewhat unhomogenous manner—by a single language, Italy constitutes a perfect microcosm of the main intellectual currents present in the 18th-century Europe and from this historical perspective a significant case study in the complex dynamics that shaped the reception, influence, and appropriation of the Linnaean revolution. In particular, it illustrates the process by which the works of a devotedly protestant scientist gradually conquered a country that was, at least in appearance, devotedly Catholic. As emerges clearly from the overview provided by the essays published here, Linnaeus's theories found both solid support and clamorous denial, underlining the subterranean mélange of personal, political, cultural and religious motives that influenced