The Accademia degli Svogliati ("Academy of the Will-less" or, erroneously, "Disgusted") was an association of Florentine men of letters in the seventeenth century. It began as a conversation at the house of Jacopo Gaddi, where it continued to meet. Gaddi was the driving force behind the Svogliati, as evidenced by the title of its statutes: "Statuti dell' Accademia degli Svogliati sotto il Principato dell' Illustrissimo Signore Jacopo Gaddi, suo Primo Principe e Promotore Stabiliti".

The Svogliati were a well-educated lot: their marginalia contain learned references to the classics, mythology, and ancient history. Gaddi's palazzo, the "Paradiso Gaddi", now the Boscolo Hotel Astoria, and its gardens along the Via Melarancio was the principal meeting place of the members. The Villa Camerata, now a youth hostel, near Fiesole, and the chapel of Santa Maria Novella were other common meeting places. Membership in the Accademia was regulated by the statutes, which admitted only persons with virtù or scienza (knowledge), who were elected by the other members. Nationality, however, was incidental and the Accademia admitted as well as Italians speakers of English, French, and German. The English poet John Milton participated—and read his own work—at four meetings of the Accademia during his sojourn in Florence (June–August 1638). It is possible that he was even a member and in later writings he refers to the Gaddiana Academia (Gaddian Academy).

[edit] References

• Haan, Estelle (1998). From Academia to Amicitia: Milton's Latin Writings and the Italian Academies. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 0 871 69886 2.