Southern Paths for Learned Travellers: The Discovery of Herculaneum and of the Neoclassical Mediterranean

Abstract

This is the core chapter of the book. It historically refers to the period 1739–1780, and it sheds light both on the politico-cultural process leading to the discovery of the buried Roman city of Herculaneum (1738) and on the Fellows’ growing attraction to the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples. Textually based on the letters that the Fellows accepted to publish, and informing the reader about the Transactions’ exceptional contributors—in this period, Camillo Paderni (ca. 1715–1781) in particular—Chap. 4 is complete with a histogram and a table showing that in the decades 1739–1760 cultural communication was related to the huge archaeological area, which resulted in a growing number of English visitors in the region of Campania, and in the beginning of a new evolutionary phase in the Grand Tour of Italy.

ADDENDUM

The chart that follows includes the 116 articles that Philosophical Transactions published about Italy from 1700 to 1800: 24 appeared between 1700 and 1738, 42 between 1739 and 1758, 38 between 1759 and 1777 and 12 between 1780 and 1800.

It is divided into five columns: the one entitled “Location or Academic Source” shows the historico-geographical spaces the articles referred to, or the learned institutions that the journal’s Editorial Board obtained information from; “Scientific Field” lists the various branches of learning that the Royal Society’s correspondents covered in their writings.

The great majority of articles relate to cities, regions or natural sites in eighteenth-century Italy; the only exceptions are those written by the antiquary John Swinton, F.R.S. and a member of the Academy of the Apatisti, on ancient “Etruria” and “Punic Sicily”.

“Philosophical Transactions” on Italy 1700–1800
Year	Vol.	Page number	Location or academic source	Scientific fields or other writings
1700–1701	22	613–614	Italy	Book reviews
1700–1701	22	627–634	Italy	Scientific research The state of the art
1700–1701	22	643–650	Rome Naples	Archaeology
1700–1701	22	1041–1043	Italy France Germany Holland Scotland	Book reviews
1706–1707	25	2282–2303	Padua	Anatomy
1708–1709	26	334–366	Zurich Upminster Pisa	Meteorology
1712–1713	28	22–25	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1714–1716	29	473–483	Rome Naples	Botany Zoology Archaeology
1717–1719	30	708–713	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1722–1723	32	194–196	Florence	Physiology
1724–1725	33	71–78	Giornale de’ Litterati	Astronomy
1724–1725	33	190	Giornale de’ Litterati	Physiology
1724–1725	33	270–271	Bologna	Physiology
1727–1728	35	491–494	Bologna	Physiology
1727–1728	35	534–535	Bologna	Astronomy
1729–1730	36	204–214	England Italy	Astronomy
1731–1732	37	256	Florence	Puericulture
1731–1732	37	336–338	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1733–1734	38	79–84	Regia Universitate Neapolitana	Geology
1733–1734	38	85–88	Roma	Astronomy
1733–1734	38	117–118	Bologna	Astronomy
1733–1734	38	184–190	Regia Universitate Neapolitana	Geology
1735–1736	39	262–266	Rome	Archaeology
1737–1738	38	266–272	Grotta del Cane (Naples)	Geology
1739–1741	41	237–242	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1739–1741	41	252–261	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1739–1741	41	340–341	Naples	Geology
1739–1741	41	345–346	Naples	Archaeology
1739–1741	41	484–489	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1739–1741	41	489–493	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1739–1741	41	493–495	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1742–1743	42	77–90	Pisa	Geology
1744–1745	43	272–273	Turin	Physics
1744–1745	43	447–465	Cesena	Medical sciences
1744–1745	43	540–549	Turin	Archaeology
1744–1745	43	557–560	Rome	Archaeology
1746–1747	44	567–571	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1749–1750	46	14–21	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1749–1750	46	293–304	Rome	Archaeology
1749–1750	46	321–323	Rome	Astronomy
1749–1750	46	464–467	Italy	Travel writing
1749–1750	46	470–471	Naples	Botany
1751–1752	47	48–61	Grotta del Cane (Naples)	Geology
1751–1752	47	131–142	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1751–1752	47	150–159	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1751–1752	47	315–317	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1751–1752	47	409–412	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1751–1752	47	474–475	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1753–1754	48	71–73	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1753–1754	48	579–587	Naples	Medicine
1753–1754	48	634–638	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1753–1754	48	821–825	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1753–1754	48	825–826	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1755–1756	49	24–28	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1755–1756	49	109–112	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1755–1756	49	112–115	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1755–1756	49	209–210	Etna	Volcanology
1755–1756	49	490–508	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1755–1756	49	585–592	Italy	Hydrography
1755–1756	49	612–616	Turin	Geology
1755–1756	49	796–803	Cuneo	Geology
1757–1758	50	49–50	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1757–1758	50	88–103	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1757–1758	50	115–117	Rome	Archaeology
1757–1758	50	166–174	Pozzuoli (Naples)	Archaeology
1757–1758	50	619–623	Herculaneum	Archaeology
1759–1760	51	201–206	Italy	Antiquities
1759–1760	51	514–526	Turin	Physics
1759–1760	51	636–643	Italy	Antiquities
1759–1760	51	839–843	Vinadio Turin	Geology Meteorology
1761–1762	52	39–40	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1761–1762	52	41–44	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1761–1762	52	44–45	Rome Vesuvius	Antiquities Volcanology
1763	53	127–129	Civita Turchino (Viterbo—Lazio)	Archaeology
1764	54	99–106	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Numismatics
1765	55	79–83	Venice	Medicine
1765	55	246–270	Naples	Astronomy
1766	56	27–29	Ancient Etruria	Numismatics
1767	57	192–200	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1768	58	1–14	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1768	58	58–67	Italy	Meteorology
1768	58	189–191	Lucca	Medicine
1768	58	196–202	Campania Sicily	Astronomy
1768	58	246–252	Paestum	Numismatics
1768	58	253–260	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Numismatics
1768	58	336	Rome	Meteorology
1769	59	18–22	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1769	59	50–56	Cortona (Tuscany)	Botany
1769	59	432–443	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Numismatics
1770	60	1–19	Etna	Scientific journey
1770	60	179–183	Italy	Marine biology
1770	60	233–238	Naples	Natural sciences
1771	61	1–47	Naples	Geology
1771	61	48–50	Naples	Geology
1771	61	53–54	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1771	61	82–90	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Numismatics Classical philology
1771	61	91–103	Punic Sicily	Classical philology
1771	61	212	Turin	Physics
1772	62	60–68	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Classical philology
1773	63	22–29	Ancient Etruria (Central Italy)	Numismatics Classical philology
1773	63	324–332	Naples	Meteorology
1774	64	318–327	Ancient Rome	Classical philology
1775	65	5–47	Venice	Geology Cultural heritage
1775	65	418–423	Padua	Cultural heritage
1777	67	144–161	Venice	Hydrography
1780	70	42–84	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1780	70	163–230	Tuscany Paris London	Zoology
1782	72	1–7 i–vi	Etna	Meteorology
1782	72	237–280 vii–xxxiii	Como	Physics
1783	73	169–208	Naples	Geology
1783	73	209–216 i–vii	Calabria	Geology
1786	76	365–381	Vesuvius Abruzzo Island of Ponza	Volcanology Travel writing
1789	79	55–64	Austria France Germany Ireland Italy	Astronomy
1793	83	10–44	Italy	Physics
1795	85	73–116	Vesuvius	Volcanology
1800	90	403–431	Como	Physics